AN: Okay! After a month of writer's block, HERE WE GO! Before we do though, as always, Reviewer Replies!

Lusamine: I think so too. (^_^) Don't worry, this version has a LOT different, I wasn't kidding when I called it Revised and Expanded. Jerry's origins are one thing staying the same, but if you haven't read the original, then don't worry about it. It'll be made clear soon enough.

Raidentensho: I have no intention of Jerry getting the Arc of Creation but yes Erza does look freaking amazing in a skin tight bodysuit. Glad you're looking forward to the changes, because we have a few major ones in this chapter! (^_^)

GodsReader15: Yes indeedily!

Curveball: Welcome to the party! Don't worry, I fully understand loving One Piece the best. If I make it far enough for Spiria to be introduced then I will be just absolutely tickled with myself. The harem'll be a lot smaller than that, the plan is just 7, but Luso (the perky one, it was really hard to tell which was which given that they were basically always on screen together) got me actin' up. If she stays such an absolute cutie then I might have to do some reconsiderin'. I agree, Gray rejecting Juvia is absolutely nerve grating, which is why I'm giving Juvia what she wants and Gray is going to get his shit together and be the man she deserves. Yes Selene is definitely going to have a bone to pick if she ever finds out who branded the moon with their emblem. Well do keep in mind that NOBODY believes him about that, frankly I'm surprised so many of the readers do! Yeah, those two were never going to get back together. I'd make up a character before I'd give up Mira. Irene's actual appearance has not been moved up, it's still quite a ways off, but I will say that I think it's going to be extremely satisfying when it does roll up. Regarding Precht, oh yes, many surprises there will be. Heh, yeah you're gonna like the Tower of Heaven arc. Well he can't just murder Jiemma outright, and I won't spoil anything, but I will point out that one of Jerry's absolute worst berserk buttons is child abuse.

AND NOW TO GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

Chapter 27 – The Truth About Zoltan

…

…

I was for a bit more than a hot second deeply concerned Miguel was going to jump for joy and dance his way right off the edge of the Card Car. Yeah we'd probably be able to catch him, but we were a little bit high up for that level of cavorting and excitement. I'd be surprised if nobody in the city below heard his cheering. I don't know who this 'Harcourt' guy was but it sounds like Miguel really hated his guts, or, as much as Miguel hated anyone. Miguel's such a friendly person that I'm not sure he has a single hating bone in his body.

When he finally settled down he asked me excitedly, "Can you take us down there?!"

"Shouldn't we go check in with your team and let them know we found it?" I asked dryly, "They've been here hunting for it this whole time, haven't they? Be kind of rude for us to not include them in First Contact."

Miguel froze and then let out the most melodramatic gasp I've ever heard, "OH MY GOSH JERRY YOU'RE RIGHT! WE HAVE TO TELL THE OTHERS! Come on we have to… oh ah…" He pulled up sheepishly at the edge of the card as he remembered he was several thousand feet in the air. We gave him a bemused look as he asked, "Ah, can we go that way?"

"Sit back down and we'll go find them," I told him with a small smile.

We flew back over the edge of the caldera and down to a few hundred feet above the canopy where we could at least see any clearings and more importantly where my telepathy could pick up any thoughts that happened to be around. At Miguel's suggestion we followed the river, and sure enough half an hour later, we found the camp.

What was left of it anyway…

It was obvious there had been a camp there, with multiple tents, a rather sturdy cabin, a fire pit, a dugout canoe for exploring the river. It wasn't until we walked around the back of the cabin calling though that I had a horribly clear understanding of how many members of Miguel's expedition had stayed in the jungle to continue the search.

I set my hand on Miguel's shoulder, "Fuck. I'm so sorry Miguel."

Miguel just shook his head, eyes wide with shock too great to even cry yet. He'd sunk to his knees when we rounded the back corner of the cabin and found them. Ten grave markers over ten patches of upturned jungle dirt, each with a name that I know Miguel knew. I could hear it in his head, that was everyone except the person who'd buried them.

I reached out to the others with my telepathy, Start looking for a body. We just found the graves of ten of the eleven people that were supposed to be here.

There was a moment of stunned silence and then a general consensus of wanting to know if Miguel was okay. Before I could answer, a scream of terror echoed through the jungle and something started crashing through the underbrush towards us.

I made it back around the corner just in time to see Natsu punch…a meteor? "YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM LUCY!" No, now that it went flying backwards with a broken horn, I could see it was a triceratops. Before I could tell much more about it, Natsu was airborne above it, "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!"

I walked over to Lucy as Natsu proceeded to pulverize the poor triceratops to death. I stood next to her for a moment watching the show before nudging her, "He does actually care about you a lot, he's just kind of a complete and utter dumbass."

I heard what Lucy was going to say in her head and managed to stop her from saying it out loud with a poke from my telepathy, Whatever you gotta say Lucy, please say it telepathically. I know you're pissed at him, rightly so, but I think the rest of us have already chewed him out and made him feel like a dirtbag enough. What's up?

She gave me a sharp pout, He's the entire reason we're out here!

I raised an eyebrow, You aren't blameless in that you know. It was Natsu's idea yes, and I know it's something you'd have never done on your own, but you DID go along with it without complaint. I felt the surge of indignation push back across the link and just turned to look at her fully, Yeah, the truth hurts. I know. All three of you broke the rules and got caught, but have you asked yourself why Natsu came to you and not me? Y'all would've gotten away with it if you'd come to me. He knows that, knew it when he did it. Has anyone told you why he did things the way he did?

Lucy's indignation at being called out on her own guilt had faded quick, now she was giving me a very thoughtful look. Why?

I'm not telling you, I replied, But you should ask him. Have you two talked about it at all? I've hardly seen you interact with him or Happy at all since we left the Guild Hall.

What's there to say? Lucy thought back snappily, He tricked me! We nearly got kicked out of the Guild over it because I trusted him and Happy and they led me into… I could hear the frustrated growl in her mind, Why did I ever team up with that stupid moron?!

I shrugged, That's a question for you to figure out, but you should at least ask him what he was thinking.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at me, You already know, don't you? So why aren't you telling…wait… She started thinking, If it weren't important you wouldn't be bringing it up. If it weren't something you'd feel wasn't your place to say you'd have already said it, but what… I could see the instant the puzzle pieces fell into place in her head. Her jaw dropped, her eyes went wide and she turned to gape at Natsu. Natsu, completely oblivious, was currently trying to talk Gajeel into helping him make a spit to roast the now very dead triceratops while Gajeel fussed about the need to properly skin and butcher it, NO WAY…

"Help him skin it Natsu, we can make stew or something!" I called before glancing at Lucy and shrugging, Not sayin' you gotta reciprocate, that's a choice for you to make, but you should at least talk to him and clear the air. Do you need me to set you up a moment tonight?

Lucy gave me a very searching look, …Why are you trying to set me up with Natsu?

I'm not, I replied with the sort of exasperated mental dryness that conjured a desert to mind, But he's caught feelings for you, and he's willing to do some pretty insane shit to impress you and make you happy. Right now, his number two priority behind not getting kicked out of Guild, which is his entire life you know, he would sincerely prefer death to being thrown out, is making sure you don't hate him. Strange as it may sound given how new the friendship is, I think you sincerely are his best friend and the person he's closest to aside from Happy, and he raised Happy from an egg with Mira and Elfman's little sister.

…Wait, Mira and Elfman have a little sister? Lucy asked in surprise.

HAD, I clarified, Her name was Lisanna. I just found out recently. She was Natsu's best friend and she died before he ever asked her out properly, but according to Levy and Erza they were a textbook example of a childhood friend romance and utterly adorable.

Oh my god his reaction makes so much sense now… Lucy thought in shock.

Eh?

When we were at Puerta Samba, Lucy explained, We saw time travelers who looked like they had to have been Fairy Tail's next generation, but Levy, Erza and Natsu all agreed it had to be something else going on because the boy that had to be Natsu's son had MIRA'S hair and eyes, but now I know it wasn't Mira's it was…!

…So if we assume no other shenanigans, there's a chance Lisanna's either alive or will be back from the dead somehow, I mused. Then something hit me, You sure you're okay with that? The future's not set in stone.

Your daughter with Mira kicked Erza's ass easily enough that Erza was too embarrassed to talk about it, Lucy replied simply.

My eyes must've jumped half out of my head in surprise and then, Fair enough, best possible timeline.

Lucy snorted with laughter and I exhaled to try and recover my composure, You still need to straighten things out with Natsu.

Lucy wasn't pleased about it, but she didn't protest as I went to check on Miguel and the so-painfully-skinny-he-had-to-have-been-on-the-verge-of-starving-for-a-while man in the ragged red clothes with the long shaggy black hair and beard. They were both hugging each other and bawling, the skinny man babbling in a language I didn't understand as Erza and Levy stood nearby keeping an eye out for any potential further trouble. Natsu and Gajeel were now working on skinning the triceratops, which really appeared to be more Gajeel giving a half recalcitrant Natsu a lesson on how to prepare meat beyond 'set it on fire and wait'.

I tilted my head and glanced up to meet Erza's gaze, New friend? Who dis?

It appears to be Zoltan, the person Miguel credited with so much of their success, Erza thought back, Levy's trying to figure out what language he's speaking. It's not any of the common ones from western Ishgar, she'd already be translating if it were.

I nodded, Makes sense. Has he said anything Levy was able to understand?

He said 'I'm so sorry Miguel' in what Levy says was Minstrellian, Erza told me with a very sober sad look, I think he blames himself for whatever happens to the others. Survivor's guilt is a very ugly thing. I don't know how long that poor man's been all by himself out here.

He's not alone anymore, and we'll make sure everyone knows their names, I thought back solemnly.

Erza nodded, Right. Then she exhaled and glanced over at me, What were you talking to Lucy about?

How she really needs to sort things out with Natsu, I replied before raising an eyebrow, And also how you met my daughter and didn't tell me. I tilted my head as Erza blushed as red as her hair, Can you at least think of what she looked like? I want to see my baby girl.

Erza closed her eyes and thought about the girl Lucy had claimed to be my daughter. I closed my eyes and gently touched her consciousness to look at the memory and felt my breath hitch as I saw her gleefully victorious grin, I think you're right. That's exactly who that is… I pressed my palms to my eyes as I felt tears of pride start forming, My baby girl…she's so beautiful…she, Lucy said she beat you?

Erza exhaled and I could sense her reluctance, but after a moment she showed me the incredibly quick fight and the conversation leading up to it. I started laughing quietly out of pride as I watched her display so may of what I recognized as my own mannerisms and then kick Erza's ass like an absolute little boss, "She's amazing!" I put one hand over my mouth to try and stifle the sobs of pride and stood there for a moment, crying my eyes out and grinning from ear to ear as my heart tried to swell its way out of my chest, "My little girl…I can't wait to meet her…She's not even here yet and I'm already so proud…"

I felt Erza's gauntlet land on my shoulder, "Hey, I…" she stopped and I glanced over to see she looked like she really wanted to tell me she didn't fully believe what she'd seen was what she'd seen, but at the same time was afraid of breaking my heart.

I turned and dragged Erza into a hug before she could find the words to attempt to let me down easy and after stilling the air around us with my telekinesis to make sure Natsu didn't hear what I was talking about, told her quietly, "People can't jump between worlds, yet here I am. I need to know every detail of the fight she died in to see if it lines up with what I'm thinking."

I felt Erza stiffen and heard her breath catch, "You can't honestly think…"

"Oh yes, I can," I replied softly, "And I'm going to find out."

"Promise me you won't try to overthrow the laws of life and death," Erza demanded softly after a moment, "That's the most taboo of all magics for a reason. Just because you probably could pull it off if anyone in this world could, doesn't mean you should. Nobody would want you to set even one toe in that swamp, especially Mira."

I stepped back from her and blinked in shock and confusion, "I had no intention of that at all. Why would you think that's where I was going with it?"

Erza looked at me like I'd just begun intentionally spouting nonsense but gave me the benefit of a doubt, "Then, where were you going with it?"

"In my world there are countless stories of people being transported to other worlds at the moment of their death when the soul's tether to the body is at its weakest," I explained, "And I know for a fact that there is a force at work in this world that can snatch magic up to and including entire people to a different world. It's what Mystogan's fighting that's got him MIA so often. We both suspect it of being what brought me here, and I know it's what Mystogan used to get here."

Erza's breath caught, "So you think…"

"Like I said, I need to know every detail, and even then, we won't know for sure until Mystogan manages to crack the code on getting him a way home for us to go check," I explained, "But it's possible, and given what you saw in Puerta Samba, I'd say it's honestly the most likely option."

To say Erza looked merely 'shook' would be an understatement. She was pale, her eyes were wide and I could hear an awful lot of puzzle pieces crashing into place in her head, "That's why they didn't bring the body back…We were worried Elfman's Beast Soul ate her…"

I actually recoiled slightly at that, "Say what?"

Erza looked up and met my gaze, "You know how Elfman never transforms more than one arm? It's because the mission Lisanna died on was the first and to date the only time he's ever managed a full body transformation, and it overtook his mind, forcing him to continue the monster's rampage. Mira couldn't attack him because the monster had already had her on the ropes and even if she somehow mustered enough power to take it down, she might very well have killed Elfman in the process."

Erza took a deep breath and then continued, "Elfman says he was aware of everything, but couldn't control his body. Lisanna tried to talk him down and the Beast killed her while he was powerless to stop it, which is why Elfman's never used even a single shred of that transformation again. It took everything he had to take back control and exit the transformation, and it knocked him straight out when he did. They didn't bring back the body and Mira couldn't bear to talk about it, so we thought the Beast either ate Lisanna or smashed her into paste."

I twitched in horror, "Ok, that…is horrifying." I took a deep breath, "But it also lines up with the most common end of people who get sent to other worlds, death by massive blunt force trauma." I scratched my head and exhaled, "Right, we need to talk to Mystogan when we get back. He's got a predictive formula on the Anima, he should be able to figure out if one would've been active in that area at that time." I took a breath and let it back out, "For now though, we need to focus on the task at hand."

I snapped my fingers and released the stilled air around us, "Any luck Levy?"

Levy's reply was an extremely frustrated sigh, "I have no idea what language he's speaking. It's no language I've ever heard and I know every major language west of the Pergrande Kingdom."

I nodded, "Well then let's see if he speaks mime." I turned and gently tapped him on the shoulder, "Zoltan."

Zoltan looked up at me, startled, "Ari?"

I held up a hand cloaked in light, before gesturing to myself, "I…" I made an illusion of a book, "Read…" I gestured to him and pointed to the side of my head, "Your mind?"

Zoltan clearly spoke mime quite well because he clapped his hands to his head, "No! Zoltan not like!"

I took a deep breath and let it out as I dispersed the light, "Ok, that's understandable I guess. It would've made things a lot easier though. Miguel, do you have any idea what language he's speaking?"

Miguel shook his head, "No idea."

I sighed, "Okay, well let's see if he minds the other way. Zoltan, you, read, my mind? Learn, to talk, to us?" I finished the hand gestures that went with all that by offering him my upturned hand with a little glow of magic.

Zoltan looked at my hand, then up at me, then he glanced over to Miguel. Miguel nodded and gave him a thumbs up, "It's okay Zoltan, Jerry is a very good, powerful and smart wizard."

Zoltan nodded and tentatively touched my hand. True to my word, I didn't accept a single bit of the feedback from his mind, instead it was an entirely one way transfer of my knowledge of the English, or I suppose here it'd be Fiorian, language. By the time the little download bar finished fading across above Zoltan's head several minutes later, he looked more than a little overloaded. I pulled my hand back and peered at him, "You good Zoltan?"

In perfect English (Fiorian?) he replied, "No more picarones Amzy, I'm full…Heooo…" Whump.

I leaned forward slightly, "Well, it was a big package to take all in one go I suppose."

"That's what she said!" Gajeel called from where he was skewering the choice cuts of triceratops to roast. Levy swatted him and Gajeel just seemed to find that even funnier before calling, "Hey Jerry, Erza, can you two get some firewood? Natsu can start a fire anywhere, but we still need something to burn."

…

…

By the time we got back, Zoltan was awake and Gajeel had made a grill and utensils. If triceratops steak wasn't previously a thing, it would be soon. More interestingly though, was what Zoltan was saying to Miguel.

"Wait, you never understood that?! I thought I was super obvious about it!"

"We understood that you wanted to go to Mattachu, not that you from Mattachu!" Miguel clarified, "Although I guess now it makes a lot of sense how you knew so much about the path here."

"Oh no, I was cursed into the form of a llama most of the way to where I met up with all of you," Zoltan shrugged, "I couldn't remember anything except the stories I'd heard. That's why I hadn't come back already, I couldn't remember how the heck I'd gotten there and had no idea where I was!"

"You got turned into a llama?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, right, you're wizards! Maybe you know how it happened?" Zoltan realized excitedly.

"Wait, I thought you were a wizard?" Miguel asked.

Zoltan had a most excellent 'oh crap' expression, "Ah, yes, I am! I am Zoltan the Magnificent, but ah, I know of no magics which would turn someone into a llama. Perhaps your foreign wizards do?"

I broadcast it to everyone but Miguel and Zoltan, Anybody buy that?

The answer was a resounding Nope.

"Forced transformations aren't unheard of, but they are very difficult, and extremely dangerous," Levy mused, "Maintaining the mind of the target in an animal body is incredibly difficult."

"Usually they're done with the intent of getting rid of someone permanently or hiding evidence," Gajeel mused, "I've never seen one used on a living target before. Usually it's something dark wizards do to make the bodies less conspicuous. Nobody pays attention if there's more roadkill than usual…" The way he said it made me suspect there was a story behind that, but now was not the time to ask about it.

"So, what did you do in Mattachu that somebody would've wanted you gone badly enough to turn you into a llama to get rid of you?" I asked, now dialed in hard looking for signs of any further untruths.

"I was the advisor to the young King Kusi," Zoltan declared, "One of two, we basically raised him. I always looked out for the young king's best interests."

Gajeel, Natsu, he smell old to either of you?

Nope, smells our age, Gajeel thought, Way too young to be an advisor entrusted with raising a prince.

So why's he lying? Natsu frowned.

I heard Levy and Lucy's minds racing a mile a minute and then they swapped a glance and Levy broadcast to us, He wouldn't use such an important figure's name if there was even a chance that person would contradict him.

And if he were scrambling for a cover identity, he'd use the first name that popped into his head that wouldn't paint a bigger target on his back, Lucy added, Which means Zoltan is someone he's close to, but still less of a target than he is himself.

And the only person with a bigger target on his back than the king's advisor… Erza mused, "So King Kusi, why did someone want you dead?"

Zoltan, or as he had now been revealed Kusi, jerked like he'd been slapped and clapped his hands to either side of his head, "I SAID NO MIND READING!"

"We didn't have to," I replied, "You're too young to be an old advisor entrusted with raising a prince, and the only person who would use such a notable person as their cover identity is someone more notable. I cheat by mind reading, but these four," I gestured to Gajeel, Natsu, Levy and Lucy, "You can't hide anything from. You're Miguel's friend, therefore you're our friend until you prove otherwise. We're wizards for hire. Want to tell us about your problem?"

Erza shot me a glance and then Kusi sat forward, "For hire?"

"Wait wait wait," Miguel protested, "Zoltan! You're the King of Mattachu?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Kusi looked at Miguel, "I'm sorry Miguel, I've been hiding my identity because I don't know what kind of resources Amzy has at her disposal. My mind was viciously muddled as a llama, but before I met you I was on the run constantly from the monsters that I'm certain she sent after me. She was the one that turned me into a llama, and I'm unsure of what all she's planning, but we must oust her from Mattachu." He turned back to us and explained, "This is not simply a matter of who rules the city. Amzy is using dark magic which I recognize and which Zoltan warned me of. She is in league with the Twelve Immortals. If they are not stopped, then we may face the End of Days."

I sat forward, now extremely alarmed, "Details please."

"The Twelve Immortals are ancient beings who were brought down by the Sun God," Kusi explained, "They were servants of the Primordial Serpent and upon their defeat were bound and became the lynchpins to the Serpent's prison. If they are all freed, then they will aim to usher in an era of eternal darkness, which will wither the Great Tree and free their master to bring about the end of the world. Amzy has already freed at least a few of them, I know because she sent them to kill me. If we wish to stop them, then we have to reseal them. Killing them will weaken the Great Tree and possibly allow the Primordial Serpent to break through it."

"Why is she so intent on killing you?" Levy asked, "If you were all the way out here, wouldn't that serve her purposes just as well?"

"So long as the royal line persists, the Immortals can be resealed," Kusi explained, "It's a magic bound to our blood line. If the line ends, then all the seals break at once. Now that I think about it," he mused grimly, "That may explain why I have no siblings." He took a deep breath and then, "But, you need not worry about me. I am certain I sired a child in the port where I met Miguel, so even if I die, the line will not end and the seals will hold. If we live through this, I want to go back there, get Malina and make her the queen she deserves to be. I need to repay Pacha for his help as well," he added almost to himself.

Then he looked us each in the eye in turn and moved to prostrate himself, pressing his head to the ground, "Please! For the sake of the world, I beg of you to help me reseal the Twelve Immortals! I will not ask you to help me reclaim the throne, but the Immortals must not be allowed free reign! I cannot stop them alone! I will pay any price you care to name! Take all the gold in Mattachu if you desire it! Our relics, our treasures, our knowledge, take my very life if you wish it! All of it is nothing if the Immortals are allowed to roam free!"

"Do you have any idea how they mean to usher in an era of eternal darkness?" Erza asked.

Kusi sat up, "It is possible that they could corrupt the Great Tree during an eclipse. If they succeeded in that, then they would be able to begin quickly blotting out the sun from the sky with an endless blanket of darkness that would bloom out from Mattachu and eventually envelop the entire world. They nearly succeeded seven hundred years ago when the Twilight of Dragons began. Only the light of the sun can reverse the corruption once it is begun, and only in the light of day can the Immortals be bound."

I felt a shudder run down my back, "An eclipse huh?"

"Ya mean like that one startin' right now?" Gajeel asked as he looked up, shielding his eyes and squinting as the world started to dim.

"Oh shit…" Kusi breathed as he looked up and saw the moon moving in front of the sun.

"Looks like we got here just in time," Erza mused, climbing to her feet as the world went dark. It wasn't particularly dark, more like a good thick cloud passing over the sun. Honestly if we hadn't been looking for it, I doubt we'd have even noticed it.

Then the river of darkness erupted upwards from the center of Mattachu like a volcanic plume and slammed into the moon like an anchor to hold it in place in front of the sun. Then the world got really dark, REALLY QUICKLY.

Our little clearing was still lit by the campfire, but all around us it was as though a moonless night had fallen over the world like a wagon of bricks. I saw something out the corner of my eye, "Hey Kusi, just out of curiosity, what do these immortals look like? Big red bird?"

"Big red bird?!" Kusi asked with a note of panic creeping into his voice.

Then something made of darkness and glowing red magic swooped low and whipped up what could've been mistaken for a miniature tornado that flung several large trees at us. The screech it let out was like a giant bird, nails on a chalk board, tearing metal and a scream of agony all rolled into one. Needless to say if I hadn't been tackling Miguel and Kusi out of the way of getting crushed it would've sent shivers down my spine.

"RUN!" Erza shouted as it wheeled in the dark sky and dove back towards us.

Erza Scarlet is not a woman who is prone to backing down from a fight. So if Erza Scarlet tells you to run, you bloody well start running and don't question it!