I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.
Ragnas Bredvolts: Thanks, and I really do appreciate you sticking with me since this story began, so thank you for that. Wow, you were not kidding when you said you hated Jellal with a burning passion, as is made obvious by the obsessive and comical rant you left behind in your latest review, of which I really only got the gist. But you do say that you'll respect my decision to let Jellal live, so thank you for that. And yes, I hope that we get to 20,000 views soon. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well.
Altajir95: Again, since you review multiple chapters in one go I'll just reply to all of your reviews at once. Thank you for the feedback, and I'm glad you like what I've put into this story so far. I hope I continue to satisfy you with what I write.
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"In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."
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Erza loomed over the downed form of Jellal, her eyes blazing with fury "Why don't you tell me what your real goal is Jellal? You and I both know that the R-system hasn't been completed. Do you have any idea what I've been doing since I left this place all those years ago? I've been researching it relentlessly, and I know that even though the tower itself was constructed exactly like the blueprints there's still one thing you don't have that happens to be a vital part of its completion."
Jellal's look of disbelief twisted into a smirk "That's not true Erza, because your sacrifice is what is going to complete it."
"No, I'm talking about something even more basic than that. Magic energy. I don't think you realize just how much magic energy you would have to accumulate in order to activate the R system, you could gather every single wizard on the continent and you still wouldn't have enough power to pull it off. This tower doesn't have the capacity necessary to store that much magic energy within its walls, and you certainly can't do it on your own. I find it highly suspicious that you haven't tried to escape, despite knowing the council is preparing to attack this tower, so what are you up to?"
"We only have 3 more minutes until the Etherion fires."
"Answer me Jellal, you know your dream will never come true so why are you so willing to risk your life? Do you want to die that badly? If that's the case then we'll die together, I'll stay here to hold you down and I won't let go until the bitter end!"
"To be honest, that actually doesn't sound that bad. I no longer have control over my own body and soul because of the fact that I had been possessed by Zeref long ago. I'm merely a puppet being manipulated by him in order to become flesh again."
"And that's why you changed that day."
"I wasn't able to save myself back then, and not even my closest friends were there to come to my rescue. That was when I realized that there is no heaven, nor does true freedom exist in this world. All of creation was finished before it even began. Deep down I knew the R-system would be impossible to complete, but the spirit of Zeref kept pushing me onwards, and he forced me to complete the construction of the tower. I wanted to stop but I just couldn't, it's like I was on a train that had no brakes. I surrender to you Erza, so go ahead and finish me. Isn't that why you came here looking for me?"
"...No." Erza took the blade of her sword away from his throat "There's no need for me to spill your blood with my own hands, the satellite square is focused and the Etherion will fire any minute now. That means that this is the end for both you and me."
"It is a grim fate that we share."
"All of this time you were just another victim of Zeref."
"It's my own fault, I let my weakness get the best of me. The rift between my dream and reality was too deep for my mind to comprehend."
"The only people capable of saving you from your flaws and your inner weakness are those you can call your friends."
"You have the right idea."
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you back then, is there any way you'll be able to forgive me for that?"
"Erza… there was nothing I ever had to forgive you for, and you have saved me." the two of them embraced each other just as the tower began to crumble, and a white light engulfed the two of them.
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Luke burst forward up the stairs of the tower as fast as he could, but the white light soon began to engulf the area "Dammit! Erza!" and then the light came raining down from above.
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The preparations for the Etherion to be fired had been completed, and the members of the Magic Council lowered their heads to pray to the light, and the spell was activated.
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Cana and the others (Lucy, Juvia, Happy, Wally and Milliana) watched the blast rain down on the tower from afar from within Juvia's Water Lock spell "What the heck happened, did we lose them?"
"Guys… look…" Lucy pointed to what now stood where the Tower of Heaven had once been standing: a gigantic lacrima.
"Oh crap…"
"What is it, some kind of crystal?"
"That's no crystal Lucy, that's a lacrima."
"So you think they're okay? Maybe they survived the blast and they're still inside."
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The blast soon subsided, and the rubble stopped falling.
Erza released her embrace of Jellal and looked around in disbelief "We're still alive?"
"Indeed we are." Jellal pulled himself to his feet and let out a dark chuckle.
"Jellal… what have you done?"
Jellal's chuckle turned into a full on maniacal cackle.
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Luke shook off the massive headache and ringing in his ears and looked around "Hey Bolt are you okay?"
"Aside from losing hearing in one ear, I've been worse." Bolt looked around "The Etherion was fired but we survived the blast, what the hell gives?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
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Jellal continued with his maniacal laugh "It's here, after all this time my hour of glory has finally arrived!"
"Glory?" Erza's eyes widened in horror.
"This is the true form of the Tower of Heaven, a magic absorbing lacrima crystal of massive proportions, and thanks to those arrogant fools on the Magic Council it's finally ready to be activated! The magic energy from the Etherion provided the missing piece of the puzzle, which means that the R system is now complete!"
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At the site of the firing of the Etherion, Yajima demanded that Siegrain start explaining himself, only for Siegrain to suddenly disappear.
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Erza's gaze hardened furiously as the realization dawned on her "So I was nothing more than one of your pawns."
"I must say Erza, your expression was absolutely priceless." a new voice noted.
Erza whipped around and she nearly let out an outright snarl "Siegrain!"
Sure enough, standing a few feet behind her was Siegrain himself, his overconfident expression mirroring Jellal's perfectly "He isn't capable of putting forth his full power at the moment, so he had to manipulate you in order to save himself."
"I don't understand, what are you doing here?"
"This actually reminds me of when the two of us first met years ago, do you remember it?"
"I do." Jellal noted "You and Luke had both once accompanied Makarov to the Magic Council to submit a written apology for destruction of property."
"She attacked me out of nowhere in a blind rage, she must have mistaken me for you."
"I can't exactly say that I blame her, after all the two of us do look alike. Erza you refused to let up despite Luke trying to hold you back until I confessed that I was his twin brother, but still you were hostile towards me from that day forth."
"What did you expect?" Erza failed to suppress a snarl "If you truly cared about your brother then you would've tried to stop him instead of helping him cover his tracks and I know you've been spying on me and reporting back to him!"
"Is that so? A mistake on my part I will admit, in retrospect perhaps I should've said something that would've convinced you I was going to find Jellal and kill him, but my biggest mistake was running into you in the first place, especially after the trouble I went through to become a member of the council. There's nothing worse than having to come up with excuses right on the spot like that."
"I get it, so the two of you have been conspiring this entire time."
"Conspiring? Not exactly." Jellal let out a chuckle "I'm afraid it's somewhat more complicated than that." he blinked and the form of Siegrain began flickering "We're not twins, but actually two faces for the same person and we have been from the start." the image of Siegrain promptly disappeared, and a golden aura briefly glowed around his body, much to Erza's horror.
"But how is that possible, was he just a projection all this time?"
"You and everyone else never suspected we were one and the same."
"Then you're the one responsible for the firing of the Etherion, did you worm your way onto the Council just for that?"
"I hope you enjoyed the freedom that I granted you all those years ago, your release and everything after was all part of my plan to resurrect Zeref."
"How can you live with yourself knowing that your entire life has been one big lie?!" her question was promptly ignored.
"Magic energy, I can feel it surging through my body."
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At the same time, Ultear was using her Arc of Time magic to cause the Magic Council building from which they had fired the Etherion to deteriorate, revealing herself to be one of the most passionate followers of Jellal, and that she was willing to give her life for his dream.
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Meanwhile, outside the Tower of Heaven…
Cana and the others looked at the tower in disbelief "You mean that gigantic lacrima is the R system?"
Wally nodded "Yeah that's right doll, this is the first time I've seen it in action but I think that's the thing that Jellal was talking about. Now it's been activated, this is pretty bad."
"So what the heck does that mean, are you saying that Zeref is about to be resurrected?"
"We don't know." Sho told her "We may have helped Jellal to build it but we've never actually seen the tower activated before."
"And now Luke and the others are trapped inside that thing."
"That's right, along with Simon and Jellal."
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Jellal dealt Erza a quick blast of magic energy, sending her tumbling backwards "It looks as though a certain someone is rather worse for wear. Come on now Erza, don't tell me you used all of your magic energy fighting against Ikaruga."
"Far from it Jellal, now you're through!" Erza skidded to a halt, summoned a broadsword and promptly burst forward at full speed, then summoned a second broadsword before she started attacking Jellal in a blind rage.
Jellal dodged every one of her attacks with ease "The headquarters of the Magic Council is little more than a pile of rubble by now. I can't tell you what a blessing Ultear has been, there was no way I could've done this without her. She has no fear of death because she believes that all of mankind will become one in heaven. In fact, she told me that she would be more than happy to give her life if it meant my dream could come to fruition. That reminds me, I should thank her for being such an ignorant fool that was so easy to manipulate."
"CURSE YOU!" Erza charged at him again, only for him to dodge her attacks with ease "I'm going to take revenge for all of the people you've abused and manipulated! This is the end for you Jellal, I'll kill you!" she prepared to charge at him again, only to notice what looked like a snake tattoo winding its way along her arm, causing her to drop her weapon "What the- What's happening to my arm?"
"It's just a Bind Snake spell, I slipped it onto you during our heartwarming embrace from before the Etherion struck." and then the spell took full effect, causing her to cry out in pain "Now that I've collected the precise amount of magic energy needed for the R-system, there's one more thing that has to be done before Zeref can be brought back to this world. This is where you're going to be taking the center stage for your moment in the spotlight my dear, the magic energy held within this lacrima must be fused with the body of my sacrifice, and once that happens your flesh will break down and reconstruct itself to create the body of Zeref." he summoned a massive lacrima and pushed her inside "You know I really did love you Erza."
"No! Stop!"
Jellal just turned away and began the incantation "Oh great and powerful Zeref, I call upon you to offer you the flesh of this woman."
"Don't do this Jellal, please!"
Jellal closed his eyes for the incantation, but then they snapped open again and he slowly glanced back "So you came, Luke and friends."
Sure enough, Luke was wasting no time in pulling Erza out of the lacrima, with some added assistance from Bolt, Natsu and Gray "Plot armor can't save you now can it?"
"Luke… Natsu… Gray…"
"It's alright, we're here for you." Luke stood up and shot a glare at Jellal "I always knew there was something shady about you. Let me make this clear to you, Erza is an irreplaceable part of our family back at Fairy Tail and the three of us will be damned if we ever even dream of letting you lay one of your."
"All of you…"
"For crying out loud." Natsu shot her a grin "What the hell are you doing hanging around with this loser? If we don't hurry and get back to work then Loony isn't going to be able to pay her rent, I've seen enough of that chick to know that you don't want to piss her off." he shuddered slightly "I've been down that road before."
"You ever gonna tell us what happened that time?" asked Gray.
"I'll tell you when you stop stripping like a filthy hooker."
"I'm sorry, but I can't move." Erza told them.
"...Oh my shit, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Natsu and Gray shared two evil grins and then started tickling Erza all over the place "I say it's time for some serious hardcore payback, this is what you get for always beating the crap out of us!"
"This is serious you two, quit goofing off! Stop it!"
"No way, we're not passing this chance up!"
Luke shared a glance with Jellal and let out a sigh "I know what you're thinking, but I've been in the guild for more than half a decade so I know well enough by now that it's easier to just let it play out.
Once they got the tickling out of their system, Erza glanced up at the others, her expression deadly serious "Listen to me you three, you have to get out of here as fast as you can."
Natsu and Gray shared a look and let out a scoff "Not a chance in hell, if you don't have the strength to do the fighting yourself then we'll just have to do it for you."
"But you can't, Jellal is too powerful. Besides, none of you know anything about him."
"That's never stopped any of us before." Luke pointed out, earning a few nods in agreement from the others "Seriously, I don't even need to know their names and I don't need to if it means protecting the people I care about."
"Please…" tears began streaming down her face from her left eye "Just this once, do as I ask of the three of you…"
"...Guys?" Luke shared a glance with Natsu and Gray and they all nodded "Yeah there's not a chance in hell of that happening." he pulled Erza to her feet "None of us really knew anything about you until recently, but there's one thing I've known since I got back. Unlike them, I have what it takes to take you down." he chopped her on the back of the neck, knocking her out cold, and then turned to the others "You guys make sure to take care of her, and Gray you'd better make an ice shield just to be safe."
"Right. Ice Make: Shield!" Gray summoned an ice shield.
"You guys protect Erza like your lives and hers depend on it, that's your job right now. As for me, I'm gonna settle that score in her place."
"That was actually quite unexpected." Jellal noted "I expected such a foolhardy move from the likes of Salamander or the Ice Make wizard, but I believed you to be more logical than the likes of that. Tell me, what sort of satisfaction do you get from striking one of your comrades when she can't defend herself."
"This is the logical move, she was crying so I had to do it." Luke's fists started crackling with electricity in his anger "She looked so weak and fragile, her voice was trembling with fear, that's not the Erza I know. I've always had nothing but respect for her as a warrior and as one of my friends, and when she wakes up from the nightmare you put her through I want her to feel like her old self again. If you want to get Erza then you'll have to go through me, and then you'll have to go through them too." he jerked a thumb back at Natsu and Gray.
"Is that a challenge? Well then consider my interest piqued, I would love to witness the power of a Dragon Slayer, the power capable of defeating one of the Ten Wizard Saints."
"Oh trust me you will, the only downside is that you'll see it the same way Jose did. On the receiving end." Luke blitzed forward and aimed a fist at Jellal's face.
Jellal blocked the fist with his own.
"Lightning Dragon Talon!" Luke dealt Jellal a solid kick to the face "Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" he drew his dragon scale sword and fired off a blast of lightning from the blade, sending him crashing into a lacrima behind him "Lightning Dragon ROAR!" he quickly breathed out a powerful roar, engulfing Jellal in the explosion that followed.
When the explosion cleared, Jellal was alive and well, having only received a few minor burns but his clothing was incinerated, revealing a purple sleeveless undershirt "I see, yes your power is even greater than I expected. However don't allow that to go to your head, if that's the best you can do then my victory is all but guaranteed Luke Drako, son of Kaminari. I was hoping to get a taste of the destructive might of a Dragon Slayer that you've spent so long working to develop before I start ripping you to shreds with my bare hands, but if this is all you're capable of then I won't waste my time with you.. I'm going to enjoy punishing you for interrupting the ceremony I worked so hard to prepare, so prepared to die by the hand of my Heavenly Body Magic. Meteor!" his body glowed with golden magic energy, and he blitzed behind Luke at blinding speeds.
Luke whipped around and countered the attack with his sword, as well as the swift barrage of attacks that followed, but he was still taking a few blows from Jellal in the process 'Looks like he's faster than I thought he would be. I'll have to start relying on the rest of my senses so I don't lose him. Sound, the vibrations in the ground, his scent, I just have to concentrate and I'll be able to predict his next move. Wait for it… now! Lightning Dragon Talon!" using all of his senses he determined where Jellal would be next and was able to deal him a swift kick to the side of the head, but only managed to scrape him with the attack 'Either he was toying with me until now or this Meteor spell is still making him even faster.'
"Be glad you got your hits in because it won't happen again!" Jellal blitzed in front of Luke and dealt him a swift barrage of punches so fast that he wasn't able to defend himself "And now I'll show you the true destructive power of Heavenly Body Magic. May the seven stars bring judgement upon you! Seven Star Sword, Grand Chariot!" he summoned seven magic circles above him and they rained down multiple barrages of magic energy blasts on Luke, which engulfed him in the explosion that followed.
When the smoke cleared, Luke was lying on the floor of the tower, slightly charred but still alive, although it looked as if he was out of commission.
"A spell like that one packs as much of a punch as being hit by a falling meteor, frankly I'm surprised that he was able to survive a spell like that one. Perhaps that one was overdoing it somewhat, but with an enemy as powerful as him I can't afford to take any chances. The R system can't afford to suffer any more damage or it will be rendered useless, I can feel the magic energy beginning to leak out." he glanced over towards the others and smirked "Well Erza, the time has come."
"Not a chance." Natsu summoned some flames in his fists, with Gray summoning an ice hammer alongside him "You shouldn't have said that part out loud asshat. So now that the tower is a giant crystal I guess shattering it would mess up your plans."
"What?"
"This isn't your day asshat." Gray slammed his ice hammer into the ground, with Natsu doing the same with his fists, creating a large crater in the tower.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!"
"You should've figured it out by now, if there's one thing that Fairy Tail wizards are best at its destroying stuff."
"You little…" Jellal's body began glowing with his rage.
"Now I'm all fired up, and he's all cooled down." Natsu ignited some more flames in his fist while earning an odd look from Gray "What, I needed something for you and getting fired up is my thing. Whatever, we'll work on that later."
"There's no way in hell I'm going to let the two of you get in my way, this will be the end for all of you! I've spent years dreaming of this day, I have no intention of letting some brats like you spoil it for me!"
"Well hate to break it to you assclowns, but we're both way too stubborn to go down against someone like you, so if you think you can take both of us then come and get us!"
Jellal fired off a barrage of golden colored magic energy blasts at the two of them.
"What's the matter asshole, you too slow? Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu and Gray both dodged the onslaught and the former charged at Jellal with a fist full of flames ready to fire.
Jellal fired off another blast of energy at Natsu at point blank range, the force sending him tumbling backwards "Did you think that would be enough to defeat me?"
"Nope, but this should at least piss you off. Now!"
"What?!"
"Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance!" Gray summoned some sharp ice blades onto his arms and charged at Jellal, cutting him across the face and torso and sending him stumbling backwards slightly "What's the matter, are you so afraid of screwing up your precious tower that you're not gonna fight either of us full on? I get the feeling you're holding out on us."
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you punk!" Jellal hit Gray with a blast of magic energy, sending him flying backwards.
"Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame/ Ice Make: Lance!" Natsu and Gray both rebounded and fired off two attacks at the same time, one a blast of fire and the other a barrage of ice arrows, both aimed at the same target: the tower itself.
'So that's it, they're aiming for the tower. Now all of you have officially made the mistake of making me angry, I didn't spend years building this tower just to have some worthless punks tear it down! I won't let everything I've gone through be in vain!"
Natsu and Gray backed off from their attacks and shared a fist bump with each other "Too bad for you assclown, but you can't say we didn't warn you. Like we said destroying stuff is a specialty when it comes to Fairy Tail."
Erza, having regained consciousness during the scuffle, watched the two of them from her place on the ground 'Both of you please be careful, you're both strong but Jellal is on a completely different level.'
"So come at us asshat."
"I'LL MAKE YOU BOTH PAY!" in his rage Jellal began summoning an incredible amount of magic power, unleashing a powerful shockwave that blew across the battlefield.
Natsu and Gray had to brace themselves "Something weird is going on with his magic, it's making me feel sick."
"And take a look." Gray gestured down at the ground "Our shadows are being pulled towards that light, if this spell is what I think it is then we're in serious trouble."
"And now the time has come!" Jellal summoned a black orb of energy above his head that continued growing in size "I'll plunge the two of you into infinite darkness."
"DON'T DO IT!" Erza bolted out in front of them "Don't even think about casting that spell unless you want to kill me too! You don't want to lose your sacrifice to Zeref do you?"
"...That would be a problem." Jellal paused on the spell as the winds began to die down "The ceremony requires the body of a wizard who is comparable in strength to one of the Ten Wizard Saints. However I believe that I've found a suitable replacement, after all you're not the only one from your guild who fits that bill, and it just so happens that he's in this tower. I can worry about that after I kill the lot of you."
"Both of you stay behind me."
"Erza what the hell are you doing?!" Natsu barked.
"It's my fault that all of you ended up getting dragged into this mess, the least I can do is protect the two of you."
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY ERZA!"
"Heavenly Body Magic: ALTAIRIS!" Jellal hurled forward the massive ball of dark energy, sucking up everything in its path as if it were a black hole, only for him and everyone else to be left speechless by what happened as the spell made contact, and the powerful explosion that followed.
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Luke's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright and shook off the headache and brushed away the lacrima crystals he was partially buried in "Dammit, I feel like I got run over by an arm of angry feminists."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Bolt floated down in front of him "You know for a guy who defeated a Wizard Saint, I figured you'd be able to take a hit like that."
"Hey give me a break, Jose had some insane magic power but his spells were pretty average all things considered, and still I was only able to beat him using Dragon Force. Jellal isn't quite up to the same level in terms of raw magic power but his spells are definitely something else, and I just got hit with the literal magical equivalent of a meteor. You know what I don't have time to justify me getting blasted to you, I have a bad feeling about something. I have to help Erza and the others, where are they?"
"From what I saw, further up in the tower."
"In that case, onward my trusty steed!"
"Don't call me that." Bolt grabbed onto Luke and the two of them soared upwards through the tower at full speed.
'I'm coming you guys, just don't let yourselves get killed until I get there!'
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Erza and the others could only look on in horror at the sight before them "Simon…"
Sure enough, Simon stood in front of Erza, Natsu and Gray, having shielded the three of them from the Altairis spell and taken the full force of the blast "So I made it… in time… that's good…"
"But why?"
"I did it… to save you…" his body finally gave out and he fell back and hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Simon no!" Erza quickly rushed to his side.
Jellal scowled at the form of Simon "I had no idea you were still crawling around inside the tower, you're even more stubborn of a pest than I gave you credit for."
"What the hell were you thinking, why didn't you escape with the others? Come on Simon, talk to me!"
Despite his ragged breathing, Simon glanced up at Erza and gave a small smile "Please… don't cry… it's okay… I'm happy to… give my life… for you…" he started coughing and hacking violently.
"Save your energy. Don't talk anymore Simon, just try to stay with me."
"You were… the only person… who could make me smile…"
"Don't die on me… please…"
"Erza… I've always… loved you…" and as his final breaths escaped him, Simon's body fell limp and he passed onto the afterlife with a smile on his face.
"Simon… no… NOOOOOOO!" with tears streaming down one side of her face, Erza let out a blood curdling scream of grief and started crying over Simon's body.
Of course, Jellal had to ruin the moment and started laughing maniacally "What a perfectly foolish thing for him to do, he tried to play the valiant hero but his death won't change a single thing! Simon gave his own life to save all of you, but he should've already been aware of the fact that there's no way in hell I'm letting any of you leave this tower alive-" he was cut off by the sound of a sickening squelching noise, and he promptly spat out some blood.
Standing in front of him was Luke, his eyes burning with pure rage and his body crackling with electricity as he stabbed his dragon scale sword further and further into Jellal's gut, with Bolt clinging onto his back "I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that you've done more than enough talking. Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" he channeled some of his lightning magic into the blade of the sword, the force electrocuting Jellal and engulfing him in an explosion, sending him flying into a large lacrima wall right behind him. Luke then shot a glare back towards Natsu and Gray and only uttered three simple yet extremely effective words "Ice shield. Now." that was all the prompting Gray needed to summon an ice shield in front of him and the others.
Jellal staggered back to his feet, and his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw "What?"
As it turns out, Luke was chomping away on a piece of the tower's crystal "What, you've got a problem with this?"
"I can't believe this, you're actually trying to eat the Ethernano from the Etherion blast? You must be insane!"
"Why don't you come and find out? Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Hammer!" Luke slammed his sword into the ground and unleashed a powerful surge of lightning, the sheer force of which forcing Jellal to dodge it "I'm not so reckless that I would try something like that. Ethernano is made out of all types of elemental magic, if I tried to eat it then chances are it would liquify my insides. I just did that to spite you. Truth is I have something very special in mind that I've been saving for a special occasion." Luke's body pulsated slightly as blue and gold energy surrounded him, and with a thunderous roar a massive golden light consumed him. When the light finally dissipated, it revealed Luke once more, only now his body was surrounded by an aura mixing blue colored energy in with the usual gold colored energy "Change Mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon! I hope you're ready Jellal, now I'm bringing out the big guns."
"Lightning based Dragon Slayer Magic now infused with water properties? But such a thing shouldn't be possible, a Dragon Slayer can't consume elements that aren't his own!"
"Actually it is possible in some rare cases to consume elements other than your own primary one, but even if you do there's only about a 10% chance and if it doesn't work then chances are it's going to poison you. Lucky me I'm the 1 out of 10 that it worked for, and now I get the chance to see just what it's capable of. Lightning Sea King Dragon JAW!" Luke blitzed forward and smashed down square on Jellal's skull, sending him crashing through the floor of the tower "You're the reason a good man died today, and you're the reason Erza cried, and that's more than enough reason for me to make you pay. There's no way in hell I'm letting you get away with everything you've done! I made a promise to protect the people I care about and there's no way in hell I'm breaking it, you touch her again and I won't hesitate to rip you limb from limb! Lightning Sea King Dragon SURGE!" he slammed one hand onto Jellal's skull and a surge of blue and gold energy blasted Jellal down through several floors of the tower.
"Your threats are nowhere near enough to intimidate me! Meteor!" Jellal activated his Meteor technique and soared high into the air, supposedly leaving Luke to descend down through the tower alone "As I am right now there's no way you'll be able to match me."
"You sure about that? Lightning Sea King Dragon IRON FIST!" Luke suddenly blitzed in front of Jellal and slammed a water and lightning enhanced fist straight into his gut, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood as they both soared higher into the air.
"I won't lose, not to anyone and especially not to you!" Jellal recovered from the blow just enough to aim a kick at Luke's head, allowing him to free himself and soar even higher into the air "My destiny is to create a land of freedom, I know this because in my darkest hour I was able to hear Lord Zeref calling out to me! He told me that he could make all of my dreams come true and I believe him, there's a reason I'm the only human who could sense the presence of Zeref and that's because I am the chosen one! Once he's been resurrected we will work together to create a land that is truly free!"
"And you're planning to do that by taking away the freedom and rights of everyone else in the world?" Luke easily dodged a barrage of magic energy blasts by leaping from one lacrima pillar to another.
"If that's what has to be done in order to change this world into a better place then I'll do it without hesitation, I couldn't care less what happens to feebleminded people like you who can't see the bigger picture!" he summoned a large magic circle.
'That magic circle, that's to cast the… Oh no. Are you seriously so insane that you're going to cast the Abyss Break? You'll destroy the tower so many people died to create!"
"This tower doesn't mean anything, now that I've done it once I could build another tower in half the time!" he prepared to cast the Abyss Break spell, but then the magic circle disappeared and he started falling 'Dammit, Erza's attacks from earlier are having a delayed reaction on my body!'
"You'll never know what it means to be free, not as long as you're letting some evil spirit control you! Why the hell would you let him control you like some kind of puppet!" Luke burst upwards high into the air at full speed, a ball of blue and gold energy gathering in his hand.
Jellal could only look on in horror and fear at the sight hurtling towards him, that being the image of a furious dragon roaring in his face 'This can't be… is this the power… of a Dragon Slayer?'
"You can do it Jellal, you have to free yourself! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: STORMING THUNDER!" with a thunderous roar, Luke attacked Jellal with a blast of lightning and water mixed together, the force of the technique engulfing Jellal in an explosion that sent him hurtling straight down through the tower.
At long last, Erza's nightmare was about to come to an end.
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Lucy and the others noticed the tower exploding from afar "What the heck is going on, is the tower about to explode or something?"
"No, I wouldn't bet on that." Cana told her "If I had to guess that would be Luke once someone has royally pissed him off."
"It looks like he's really going to town up there, do you think they're gonna be okay?"
"It looks to me like Luke is going on a major rampage, but considering the kind of stuff that it takes to make him rampage like that it's too soon to tell."
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Luke crashed back onto the floor of the tower with a loud bang and let out a sigh as he retracted his dual element mode "And now this nightmare is finally over, for your sake I hope you never hurt any of my friends again."
Erza and the others could only look on in disbelief 'So this is the power hidden within him, the hidden dormant potential power of a Dragon Slayer. He was able to defeat Jellal… I can't believe that after all these years the nightmare is finally over, now Sho and the others can finally be free.'
"Yeah, so I'm thinking I need a nap when this is over." Luke fell to one knee from the exhaustion he was feeling "What about you guys, are you alright?"
"We're fine. I never should've doubted your strength Luke, you truly are amazing." Erza looked back at Natsu and Gray "You both did great as well."
"Yeah well they have more fight in them than I do at the moment, truth be told I'm kind of running on reserves. I've been blown up by molten spears and hit with the equivalent of a meteor so that hurt, a lot, plus using my Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode really takes it out of me, so yeah I think I need a vacation." but then the tower started rumbling "Starting after we survive whatever is gonna happen next."
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Juvia and the others noticed the tower starting to glow in a rather ominous way "There's an incredible amount of magic energy resonating from that light."
"That's not a good sign." Cana muttered "The ethernano inside the tower must be getting out of control."
"What the heck does that mean?" asked Lucy.
"It's the magic energy from the Etherion blast, it's seriously dangerous for that much magic energy to be contained in one place because the energy will keep building until it becomes unstable. With nowhere to go the Ethernano will keep growing until it bursts and it causes a huge explosion. We have to hurry and get out of here or we're all gonna die."
"What about Luke and the others, they're still in the tower!"
"At this point there really isn't a point to worrying about who's gonna make it out alive and who isn't, if that tower explodes then it will wipe all of us out."
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Natsu slung Luke over his shoulder and let out a groan "How the hell did we get stuck with rescue duty?"
"Don't know, and frankly don't care." Gray slung Erza's arm over his shoulder "But right now we've gotta get the fuck out of here, we'll worry about trying to strangle each other after we survive this."
"Good enough for me." Natsu glanced over to see the body of Simon beginning to slide into a large crevice in the tower floor "Dammit…"
"There isn't anything we can do for him now, we need to focus on getting the two of them out of here before this tower blows or we're all goners." Bolt told him.
"Right." and so the three of them started making a beeline through the tower, leaving Simon's corpse to fall into the crevice as they made a run for it, with blue blobs oozing out of the lacrima crystals and multiple blasts of blue energy bursting out from the floor all around them, blowing all of them off their feet.
Erza pulled herself to her feet and looked around at the chaos 'The lacrima can't contain this much magic energy so it's transforming, I can't imagine how much destructive power it must be capable of. Even if all of us somehow made it outside the tower we'd still get caught in the explosion that followed. Dammit, it's over!' she looked towards where Luke and the others were struggling to get back to their feet 'No, what am I saying? I can't give up, you all fought so hard to save me so now it's my turn to save you. But still, if there's no way for us to contain the blast or escape it then what the hell am I supposed to do?' then it dawned upon her 'Jellal said that the magic energy held within the lacrima must be fused with the body of his sacrifice. That's it, if I can fuse my body with the magic energy inside the lacrima then I might be able to control it and keep it from exploding. It's a risk that I'll have to take.' she reached towards one of the blue blobs in front of her, and it promptly began sucking her in 'This is good, I was worried that it might end up rejecting me.'
"Erza hold on a second." Luke pulled himself to his feet "What the hell do you think you're doing? You better not be thinking about sacrificing yourself."
"I don't have a choice, this is the only way I'll ever be able to stop it."
"What are you talking about?"
"You already understand this, if the ethernano inside the tower continues to gather power then the lacrima won't be able to contain it and the entire place will explode with all of us still inside it. But if I can fuse my body with the magic energy then I should be able to prevent that from happening."
"The key word there being should, as in that's a ridiculously big IF that will kill you. There's no way any of us are going to let that happen, there has to be another way to stop it." he tried to run forward to pull her out, only to end up stumbling."
"I promise I'll stop it, there's no need to worry. I'm determined to protect all of you." her body was sucked in even further, causing her to cry out in pain."
"Don't do it Erza."
"I have to do this." Erza reached out to Luke and gently caressed his face, and she gave a small sad smile "I can't even begin to imagine what my life would've been like without you and everyone else in Fairy Tail, if it weren't for you and everyone else then I probably wouldn't be here today. I hope all of you know how important you are to me, I care about all of you so very much, and that's why I'm willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. If it means that the people I care for will be spared then I would gladly give my life, so that all of you may live." she was pulled all of the way into the blob.
"Erza! Dammit just hold on, I'll get you out of there!" Luke pulled out his sword and started stabbing against the blob, to no avail.
'Luke, please continue to watch over and protect everyone else back in the guild. I promise you, even though I may not physically be there anymore, I will always be by your side.'
"ERZA!"
'Farewell my friends, my family… I love you all…'
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Lucy and the others noticed the tower erupting in a massive blue light "This is bad, the tower is exploding."
"No it's not, take a closer look." Cana pointed at the tower "The magic energy is shooting upwards out of the tower, something is redirecting it up into the upper atmosphere!" this was when a massive tidal wave washed them a fair distance away, and when they could see beyond the waves again the tower had vanished from sight.
"Where the heck did the tower go? It was just there a second ago!"
"Dammit Luke, what the hell are you guys doing?"
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Erza opened her eyes and found herself floating in what looked like an endless blue void with a golden light shining down upon her, her wounds fully healed 'What is this place… Where am I…? Am I still inside the lacrima? No… this feels different…' but then a white flash surrounded her, and when the light subsided, it showed her the last thing that she would ever have wanted to see.
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(Erza's vision)
(Erza speaking)
The city of Magnolia, or more specifically the graveyard of Magnolia, a heavy rain pouring down from above and making the atmosphere even more depression. All of the members of Fairy Tail were present, all of them dressed in formal black attire and all of them looking absolutely grief stricken.
Does this mean… It can't be…
Standing in front of them was a statue with a tombstone in front of it, a bouquet of roses lying in front of it, and the tombstone read:
Erza Scarlet
X765 - X784.
I'm… dead…?
Makarov turned around and addressed everyone present "Erza Scarlet was able to touch many lives in this world, with a heart as huge and boundless as the sky above, her noble sword shining vibrantly as she gave her life to protect those she dearly loved. She moved with the grace of a fluttering fairy, and her exquisite beauty rivalled that of mother nature herself. It's a painful reminder that love can give you strength, but losing love can render you powerless just as easily." he struggled to hold back his sobs "She will be missed."
Master…
"Our family in Fairy Tail will never be the same."
This was when several members of the Magic Council stepped onto the scene, led by a member of the Magic Council by the name of Org "In the wake of this tragedy, we have been left with two empty seats on the Magic Council. The vote we took was unanimous, and as such we shall award to her one of those seats posthumously. It is my somber honor to declare that Erza Scarlet of the Fairy Tail guild shall be remembered as an eternal member of the Ten Wizard Saints of Ishgar."
Luke stood by Makarov's side, his expression unreadable and his bangs covering his eyes in an ominous way "She deserves that at the very least." he glanced over to the others "Say whatever you want, but this is their way of honoring her so at least show them some respect, at least for the time being."
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"
"Him on the other hand…"
"I can't just sit back and watch you go through this!" Natsu was storming his way to the front of the scene, and unlike the others he wasn't dressed for the occasion.
Luke blitzed in front of him and grabbed him by the arm "Whatever the hell you're thinking of doing, back the hell away right now."
"Don't give me that bullshit, we all know that Erza isn't dead!"
Natsu… Luke…
"Don't put yourself or anyone else through this crap!"
Luke's teeth grinded furiously as he tightened his grip on Natsu's arm and he unleashed a small surge of electricity "You're not getting another warning Natsu, back away right now. Dealing with this is already hard enough without your gigantic temper tantrum making it worse for everyone else."
"Shut up, there's no way that she could be dead!"
"Just grow up for once and face the truth Natsu, she's gone."
"Let the fuck go of me, I know Erza's still alive!"
"SHE'S DEAD DAMMIT!" Luke slammed his fist into Natsu's gut, causing him to cough up blood and bringing him to his knees, but then he picked up Natsu by the scarf to the point where they were at eye level, revealing that Luke had tears streaming down his face "You think you're the only one suffering right now?! Acting like some pathetic spoiled brat that can't accept the reality of the situation won't change anything! Face the reality, she's dead because we couldn't save her! Because I couldn't save her! I couldn't…" and then and there he broke down in a tearful mess, leaving him to be somewhat comforted by Bolt.
This… This isn't what I wanted to happen… I sacrificed myself because I thought it would make the future better for them… but that isn't the case at all… I never thought things would turn out this way… I wanted to save them, so that they could go on living happy lives… I never meant to put them through so much pain as this…'
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'I never meant to put them through so much pain as this…' Erza looked up as a golden light began shining down, and she noticed a hand reach out to her, and then everything faded and went black for her.
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Meanwhile, back in reality…
Erza opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by sea water, the shore visible a short distance away 'Where am I?'
"ERZA!" that was when Cana, Lucy and the others came running through the water towards her, much to her surprise.
'But this doesn't make any sense, does this mean that I'm still alive?' she glanced up slightly and her eyes widened "Luke…"
Sure enough, Luke was standing on the shores holding her in his arms, still with some burns across his body, and he shot her a small smile "Hey, are you okay?"
"You… You saved me again… I was lost in that sea of magic energy, and yet despite that you were still able to find me."
"It wasn't easy, you were in there pretty deep. I had to flash into Dragon Force for a minute there just to get in deep enough to find you." Luke dropped to his knees and let Erza go, and he gritted his teeth due to the pain "You know I feel the same way you do, and I don't doubt for even a second that everyone else shares that view. Hey do me a favor and promise me you won't do something that stupid again okay, doing stupid stuff is Natsu and Gray's thing and it really doesn't suit you."
"I know… I promise… Thank you… This whole experience has taught me a very important lesson… You don't die for the people you care about, you live for them." and for the first time in almost a decade, tears streamed down her face from her right eye "Because the future wouldn't be as bright or as happy without you in it."
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A few days passed, mainly meant for the group to rest and recover.
Gray glanced over at Luke's form lying on the bed nearby "You guys really sure he's gonna be okay? The guy's been sleeping since yesterday."
"Don't worry about that." Bolt waved him off "Using stuff like Dragon Force or Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode can actually drain him pretty fast, sure they're insanely powerful but they can drain his power pretty fast and that puts a lot of strain on the body."
"Just like listening to half of the people in the room." Luke grumbled from his place on the bed, covering his ears with a pillow "Right now my vacation is a week long nap."
"Sounds rather nice." Erza gave a small smile "I know I've said this already, but I'm sorry for causing all of you so much trouble."
"Apologize by letting me sleep."
"I can see that even you get rather irritable when you're denied some well earned rest." her only reply was a low growl, followed by light snoring, so she glanced over at Gray "So where did your friend run off to? I wanted to thank her for helping us back there."
"You mean Juvia right?" Gray gave a shrug "She actually left a little while ago, she told me that she wanted to go to Fairy Tail and talk to Gramps about signing up as an official member of the guild.
"I see."
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Sho and the others later met Erza out on the beach "It's not like we ever really wanted to hurt you or anything, but we really are sorry for everything that happened."
Erza shook her head "No, I should be apologizing to all of you. I left all of you in the tower for all those years, I just hope that you'll be able to forgive me."
"We had already forgiven you Sis, really."
"But if I had gone back then Simon might still be here with us."
"Simon was always the best of us, and it's only right for you to know that no matter what we were told he always loved-" he was cut off by a hand being slapped over his mouth by Milliana.
"You don't have to hide the truth, I already knew how he felt. He gave his life to save those of myself and my friends from Fairy Tail, and I'll forever be grateful for that. I know it's hard, but we have to try and keep moving forward. That's what Simon would've wanted us to do." she received two simultaneous nods "You could join Fairy Tail, give life in a guild a try."
"Wait really, are you sure that would be okay?"
"Of course it is but I don't want to put any pressure on you, I'll let all of you think it over for a little bit. But still I'm sure you would love it if you agreed to it, there would be a new adventure every day. If all of us would be able to stay together then I can't tell you how happy that would make me. Come on, let's head back to the hotel. I haven't had the chance to properly introduce you to Natsu." and so they started walking.
"You've grown strong Erza, truly strong."
Erza whipped around at the sound of that voice, only to find that there was no one there 'Wait, was that Jellal? No it couldn't be, it must have been my imagination.'
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Nightfall came.
Luke let out a sigh as he lounged in a chair on the deck of his room 'Once we were able to finally relax a little bit here at the resort, and after I finally got some much needed Z's, Erza opened up and told us about everything. She had a feeling that Jellal might have been the one who kept the tower from exploding and killing all of us with it. I do feel a little bit skeptical about that, but I don't think it's impossible that he was able to go back to his old self once he was no longer being controlled by Zeref. She says that he must have fused his body with the ethernano in her place and made the choice to shoot the magic energy into the sky. I wasn't so sure about that at first, but the more I think about it I don't think it's impossible. As strange as it may seem, despite all of the horrible things he's done, I do feel kind of bad for Jellal. In the end he was just another unfortunate victim of the legacy of Zeref, and even if he was evil at the time he did defend Fairy Tail from the rest of the council, so even if he was possessed he didn't seem all bad to me.' he glanced over at the sound of a knock on his door "It's open."
Erza promptly burst into the room "Luke tell me, have you seen Sho and the others?"
"I haven't seen any of them since dinner."
"I can't find them anywhere."
"You don't think they would just up and leave without saying goodbye do you?"
"I'm sure that's it."
"...You thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"Most likely. Tell Natsu and the others to get the fireworks ready and meet me on the beach in 20 minutes."
"Gotcha."
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Meanwhile, on the beach…
Wally and the others were getting a boat ready to set out into the open sea "Are you guys sure we're gonna be able to make it in the outside world? It's not like any of us have ever been on our own before."
"Well we're gonna have to try." Sho told him "Erza has her own problems, the last thing she needs is for us to weigh her down."
"So this is where you went."
Sho whipped around to see Erza standing on the beach a short distance away "So you were able to find us."
"Of course I was."
"Please don't try to stop us from leaving, we've already made up our minds. All we've ever known is the inside of that tower, it's where we grew up. Now we're adults and we don't know a single thing about the outside world. This is our chance to get out there and see it, for the first time in our lives we're free to do whatever we want. We want to follow our dreams just like everyone else does, but that's something we'll have to do on our own. We want to know what it truly means to be free."
"...I see. Well I have complete faith in all of you, and I know all of you are going to do just fine out there. I'm not worried in the slightest." she promptly requipped into a new set of armor, colored blue, white and gold and complete with a flag with the Fairy Tail symbol on it "But with that being said, there are three rules that any members who choose to leave Fairy Tail must abide by."
"What do you mean leave? We never even officially joined your guild."
"The first rule, never share sensitive information about the guild with anyone for as long as you live. The second rule, never contact any clients you worked for while in the guild for the sake of your own personal gain. And the third and final rule, although our paths must stray you must promise to live the rest of your lives to the fullest. That means you must treat every day as though it were your last in this world." tears started streaming down her face "You must never forget your friends from Fairy Tail, you must treasure them for as long as you live." she held up the flag as the others began shedding tears as well "Let the Fairy Tail farewell ceremony begin now!"
"Way ahead of you." Luke fired a few small bursts of electricity into the air, with Natsu adding in some small bursts of fire, creating magic fireworks.
"May all of your journeys bring you joy. Now!"
"We're on it, take a look at this." Gray and Lucy promptly added in some short bursts of their own magic energy to create fireworks.
"I wish we would be able to stay together forever, but deep down I know that I would only hold all of you back. I don't want that, after all the years you spent stuck in that tower, you deserve to finally be free."
Sho and the others were outright sobbing by this point "We never thought you would hold us back, if we were going to stay with you then we would do nothing but remind you of painful memories."
"But I have so much more than just painful memories with all of you, besides what we went through can only make us stronger and bring us closer together. I will always hold onto those memories, both the good and the bad. I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new lives. This isn't goodbye, because I know we'll meet again."
"We'll miss you sister, I promise we'll be sure to see each other again someday."
"Of that I have no doubt, and I'll be waiting until that day comes." the fireworks continued to blast through the skies long after Sho and the others finally set sail.
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A few days of travelling went by as the group made their way back to Magnolia, only to be met with quite the surprise upon their return.
Luke looked up at the newly restored guildhall with a raised eyebrow "Okay I wasn't expecting that, they finished building it in less than a month?"
"Yep, check it out." Cana looked up at the top of the new guild hall "There it is guys, the new guild hall of Fairy Tail."
"The hell with being a guild hall, this one is like a castle." they made their way through the plaza and looked around at all of the added features.
"You've gotta be kidding me, they have an outdoor cafe now?"
"More like a full on restaurant."
"But do we really need a gift shop too?" Lucy muttered.
"Do they really need any of this stuff? Anyway it's not hurting anybody."
"Hey what's up?" Max, another member of the guild, waved at them from his place behind the counter "Glad to see you guys made it back okay, what's new?"
"So they've got you working the gift shop now huh Max? It's been awhile since we've seen you around the guild hall."
"Well the Master made me go back to school because he wanted me to take a few business courses."
Lucy suddenly popped up in front of him "You're Max Alors, I've read all about you in Sorcerer Weekly!"
"Yes ma'am that would be me, and you know I've heard a lot about you Lucy."
"I don't even want to think about all of the crazy things they probably told you."
"It's Fairy Tail, I'm used to it."
"So what kind of stuff are you selling here?" asked Luke.
"All sorts of stuff, we've got t shirts, wristbands, mugs towels, and of course some of our most popular items, action figures of you guys." he displayed some of them.
"You got action figures of all of us? No offense man but that seems kind of creepy."
"Just take a look at the Lucy figure, she's poseable and her clothes come off!"
"That just makes me even more concerned."
"Yours is the most popular one."
"Still not selling yourself very well. First rule of business, know your audience."
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Soon enough, Luke and the others were looking around the inside of the new building "Okay I'll give them this, they make it look cooler than the old design at least." he glanced back behind him and noticed Natsu brooding "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm not good with change." Natsu grumbled.
"Lighten up a little bit, change is a part of life."
"I see that you've all returned from your vacation." that was when Freed made himself know to everyone present.
"Hey Freed, liking the new guild hall?"
"Indeed I am, as is everyone else. All sorts of special features have been added, the new pool located behind the bar for example."
"A little bit weird but you get points for originality."
"We even have a game room down in the basement."
"...You have pool tables?"
"Several."
"I call dibs on the next game. You have a bowling alley?"
"A small one but yes."
"I call dibs on that too."
"But the most noteworthy change would be upstairs, now even those who aren't S class wizards are allowed onto the second floor. The master actually allows more of the wizards of the guild to take on S class quests, but only if an S class wizard agrees to accompany them."
"Looks like one of Natsu's stupid stunts actually left an impact that did almost as much good as it did harm."
"Well well, I'm glad you dunderheads make it back safely." a new voice noted.
Luke glanced over to see Makarov standing a few feet away, along with a certain other someone with him "Oh hey Master."
"I'd like you to meet Fairy Tail's newest member Juvia, isn't she a cutie?"
Sure enough, Juvia stood next to Makarov, clad in a new attire and a new hairstyle, and she promptly did a curtsey to them with a bright smile "I can't wait to work with you."
Gray let out a chuckle "So you actually made it in then did you? We've really gotta thank you for helping us in Akane and the tower."
"No far from it my darling, I should be thanking you. It's thanks to you that I've found a new guild now."
"Hey what's up girl?" Lucy waved to Juvia, only to be met on the receiving end of her comical rage.
"We will fight for Gray!"
"That won't be necessary."
"We've also added another new member to the guild." Makarov got their attention "It's someone you might recognize."
"I think I have a good idea of exactly who that is." Luke glanced over and confirmed his suspicions, much to the disbelief of the others "Yep that's about what I was expecting."
Natsu and Gray let out outright simultaneous snarls at the sight of him "Gajeel!"
Sure enough, Gajeel sat at a nearby table working on his guitar "What, do I have something on my face?"
"What the fuck gramps, why would you let him in here?"
"Dial it back a few notches guys." Luke waved them off "I talked to Juvia about this before the Tower of Heaven and at her request I put in a good word for him."
Erza gritted her teeth "I don't mind Juvia but Gajeel is the one responsible for destroying our guild hall."
"Technically he just wrecked it, Jose was the one who demolished it. Besides remember what the master taught us, an enemy of yesterday can be a friend of today. Cheesy as it may sound, it means we have to keep an open mind."
"Yeah, he's right." Levy piped up from where she was hiding behind a table "I mean if I'm okay with him being here then you should be too."
"As much as I appreciate the support Levy, it doesn't really work when you're hiding behind a table."
Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't having any of it "There's no way in hell, I can't work with someone I can't trust!"
Gajeel promptly met Natsu's glare with his own "Don't get the wrong idea, there's no way in hell I'm gonna wanna become your BFF or anything. I only joined this guild is because a guy has to make a living, I don't care if you or anyone else in this guild trust me or not but times are tough and I need money so I had to join whether you like it or not."
"Shut the hell up Metal Dick!"
Juvia was quick to try and do damage control "I'm sorry but Gajeel has been having a very hard time finding work and I couldn't just turn my back on him, but I don't want you to think I have a crush on him or anything!"
"I know you kids have your issues with him but as the master of this guild, it's my duty to help those who have gone astray find the right path." Makarov told them "Just give him a chance, you might find that he's a nice guy, at least I hope so."
Erza studied him for a moment, then let out a sigh "While I may not agree with you Master I will respect your decision, but I warn you that I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on him."
"So be it."
"I think we should give him a chance" Lucy commented "I mean it's not like he abused me or anything during the whole thing with Phantom Lord."
"Glad to see you're being so open minded."
"Yeah she's nice like that." Luke caught one of Makarov's arms as it started extending in the direction of Lucy's rear "Remember what we talked about before Master, keep your hands to yourself." he glanced over to see Natsu and Gajeel snarling at each other "And the more things change the more things stay the same, do you think they still have those old muzzles down in the guild storage room?"
Eventually Natsu broke away from his glaring contest with Gajeel, but he still looked rather dejected about the sight of the new guild hall "I don't know what it is, but this new guild hall just doesn't feel right." but then the lights went out comically for an instant.
When the lights flashed back on, it revealed Lisanna sitting on a stool on the stage with a guitar in hand, and she shot them her typical gentle smile "Hey guys."
"Hey Lisanna, we made it back!"
"Great to see you guys! I'd like to dedicate this song to the strongest team in Fairy Tail, and to congratulate them on their safe return." and then she started playing her guitar, her voice coming through as almost angelic.
"As I walk past your room
My shadow falls through your door
One more day you're not here
One more night I'm alone
Gazing up at the stars above
I pray that they guide your way
Just look up and follow the starlight
Makarov looked around at Erza and the others with a small fond smile 'I'm so happy they all made it back safely. I can't believe how fast my children here in Fairy Tail are growing up, some more than others, so maybe it's about time for me to start thinking about retiring, for real this time.'
"Thinking about how much they're all growing up huh?" Luke popped up beside Makarov and handed him a mug of booze, which was graciously accepted.
"Yes, they're all growing up so fast. You've grown up the fastest of all of them."
"I grew up as much as I had to in order to protect them, so that all of them can live happy lives with each other. Hey you're not still thinking about retiring are you?"
"As the younger generation grows and develops, perhaps the time has come."
"Don't even think about it master, you've still got a few good years left in you. Besides you remember what I said before, I'd rather be a good man than a great master."
"So be it then, I suppose I'll just have to wait until I find a worthy successor who actually wants the position."
"You never know, anything is possible." their conversation was cut short by an applause erupting as Lisanna's song ended "She's gotten better, so who's up next?"
The spotlight blinked out of existence for a moment to reveal Gajeel where Lisanna had once been, now clad in a white suit with a guitar in his hand "Sup?"
"Okay now we get to the good part."
"Awhile back I wrote a little tune I like to call Best Friend, you guys wanna hear it? Well you're gonna hear it either way, so here goes." and then he started singing.
"You're sparkling and colorful
Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba
You caught my eye
Like a shiny piece of metal…"
"Hells to the yes!" Luke started nodding to the beat of the song, earning some looks of disbelief from everyone present "What, I can't be the only one who thinks he's a good singer. Keep going for it Mr Shoo Bee Doo Ba, show them what you've got!" of course this was said amidst everyone else throwing random crap at Gajeel.
"Do-do-do
Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba
Sha la la
One bite is never enough!"
"God dammit this has gotta be the worst song I've ever heard!" Natsu was promptly met with a guitar hitting him in the face "Oh that's it Metal Dick, you want a piece of me?!"
"Shoo Bee Doo Ba!" Gajeel met Natsu's kick in mid air with a kick of his own, which turned into a comical brawl.
"I've had enough of this Chee Boo Bee Da crap!"
"I told you before you dumbass, it's Shoo Bee Doo Ba!"
"Takes one to know one!" Natsu was promptly hit in the face with a mug "Alright, which one of you wise guys threw that huh?!"
"God dammit Natsu, enough already!" Gray promptly bolted to his feet, causing Erza to drop the cake she was eating "Would it kill you to quit screwing around already?!"
Needless to say, Erza was too preoccupied at the moment "He made me drop… my strawberry cake…"
Things only got worse when Elfman stepped on the cake "Now listen up, if you were real men you'd take this outside!"
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STEPPING YOU OAF!" Erza promptly kicked Elfman in the face and sent him flying, which led to a massive brawl that engulfed almost every single person in the guild hall, damaging it greatly, and resulted in Makarov sobbing in a comical way.
Luke observed the carnage from afar with a small fond smile 'And just like that it's starting to feel like home again, I guess the more things change the more things stay the same.'
A/N:
And thus the Tower of Heaven arc comes to an end, but not without a sacrifice in the form of Simon, a character that I think is extremely underrated since, and don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure he's the first character to actually die in the entire series (excluding flashbacks, so people like Ur and Karen don't count). I'm going to be honest with you guys, I found this arc pretty hard to write out since, while I think it's a good arc, I was never really a huge fan of it.
I took Luke out of the fight for a short while after he was hit by Jellal's Grand Chariot not because I was trying to nerf him or anything, but because I really wanted to give Natsu and Gray some spotlight in this chapter by having them double team Jellal for a short while.
Yes, Luke has a dual element mode, Lightning Sea King Dragon, combining his own Lightning Dragon Slayer magic with Sea King (Water) Dragon Slayer Magic to create a very lethal combination. I was going to wait to show this until a later arc, but I figured why not use it to give Jellal a good thrashing for all the crap he put everyone through. And to those of you upset about Natsu not getting his time to shine in this arc, don't worry. He'll be getting his moment of glory when we get to the Battle of Fairy Tail, which will be getting a considerable overhaul in comparison to some of the other arcs. That will start next chapter, so look forward to it and I'll see you guys then.