I AM ALIVE.

Ok, serious now. Sorry, for not updating last week, i caught the flew and was sik for an entire week. Still not back to 100% but better than nothing.

 

Zeldaris and Aversia narrowed their eyes after hearing this.

Both of them had expected that Erza had some connection with those four and this tower.

“Can you go a bit more into detail?” Zeldaris asked Erza.

Erza closed her eyes and thought for a moment.

While waiting for Erza´s answer, the two half dragons noticed that four people were coming toward this place.

But they didn´t worry about it because they knew who it was.

The two of them were actually impressed that they were able to arrive so fast.

About a minute later, the sounds of footsteps could be heard, and they were getting louder and louder, Erza had not moved an inch and still had her eyes closed.

And not long after that, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Juvia came running into the room.

“Took you long enough.” Aversia said in a joking tone and a smile on her face.

“Sorry sis, we had our fun sightseeing.” Natsu answered with a smile.

Not expecting Natsu to answer like that, both Zeldaris and Aversia were stunned for a moment before laughing aloud.

“Looks like you have worked on your sense of humor.” Zeldaris said while walking toward Natsu and giving him a clap on his back.

“I don´t want to ruin the family reunion, but what´s going on here and why are you with those guys that attacked us?” Gray asked as he noticed the four people that had attacked them in the resort.

Hearing Gray´s question, Natsu took a closer look at his surroundings and saw the block head that shot him in the mouth and took Happy with him.

“YOU GOD DAMM BLOCK HEAD, GIVE HAPPY BACK!!!” Natsu yelled and wanted to beat the shit out of him, but Zeldaris was holding him back.

“Wait? They took Happy with them?! Also, could you please tell us what happened?” asked Aversia.

Gray sighed for a moment before starting to tell the two half dragons what happened.

Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Erza had enjoyed the day at the resort and had planned to enjoy the casino of the resort in the evening.

But the group had been ambushed in the casino by Erza´s old/former friends and tried to kill them, while also kidnapping Erza and Happy.

Gray had been saved by Juvia and she had been a tremendous help while traveling to the tower.

While Gray told his story, Erza clenched her fists.

“It seems that I owe you all an apology and I need to tell you everything about my past and my connection with the tower, but after that I want you all to get out of here.” Erza said and opened her eyes.

“That we will decide after we will hear your story.” Zeldaris said and walked toward Erza and sat down on a large stone, two meters away from Erza.

Aversia also found a comfortable place to sit down and looked at Erza, waiting for her to start her story.

“Like I told Zeldaris and Aversia before, I used to be a slave in this tower. Together with Miliana, Shô, Wally, Simon, Jellal and an old man called Rob, we lived in a small cell in the tower.”

Natsu and the others become shocked by this.

“All of us had been captured by the cult and were forced to build this tower. It was hard and brutal work, it was hell. There were many people that tried to flee, but all of them failed and were punished severely for it.”

At the last part, Shô and the others became tense, as if remembering something.

“We were not much different and, in the end, got caught. They blamed me for all of it and thought that I was the mastermind behind it. I was then tortured for a long time and to the brink of death. I lost my right eye during that time and the memories haunt me to that day.”

Everyone was shocked by this and Zeldaris, Aversia and Natsu, whished that they could bring those guys back to live, only to kill them again.

Shô on the other hand begun to breath heavily, the memories of that day still clear in his mind.

A large hand grabbed Shô´s shoulder, it was the fourth person of the group.

His figure was tall, massive, and muscular man, similar to Elfman and Laxus.

His massive arms and hands seemed even larger compared to his thin legs.

He had brown eyes; his hair was hidden beneath a cloth that was wrapped around his head.

His left eye was covered by a simple eyepatch, a thin scar was emerging from beneath it and was going downwards toward his cheek.

His face was wide and rectangular.

His lower jaw was covered by an armored metal plate, bearing lines of studs on its upper edges and two side protrusions jutting upwards, plus a set of teeth-like ornaments, overall resembling a skeletal jaw.

His clothes were barley covering his upper body.

His left arm was covered by a dark sleeve, with two white stripes.

His pants were extremely baggy and made his thin legs look bigger and more adequate for his figure.

A large, light cloth was passing over his left shoulder and going down below his waist, where it had been tied by a light sash, with a part of it hanging down below.

Zeldaris and Aversia were now taking a closer look at this guy and were guessing that he would be Simon.

Shô did calm down a bit after Simon helped him and Erza continued her story.

“I was thrown into a cell, where I was sure that I would die, alone. But to my surprise, Jellal found me shortly after. He had fought his way through to find me. He wanted to save me and planned to fight back and defeat the cult. However, a cultist attacked him from behind, both of us hadn’t noticed him.”

Erza took a long breath; her whole body was shivering.

“They took Jellal with them and brought me back to the others, I could barely move.”

Miliana bit on her lower lip as tears begun to stream down her face, her nails digging into her arms.

“My mind was after that a bid hazy, all I could think was about what Jellal had told me and the fact that the cult was trying to make an example out of him. The next thing I remember was one of the cultists shouting and the word fight.”

In reality, the cultist was yelling, because Shô had begun to cry after hearing that Jellal would not be coming back and after seeing the state in which Erza had been.

The cultist ordered Shô to shut up and the people in the cell tried to calm him down.

“Something snapped inside me. I stood up and grabbed the spear of the cultist and stabbed his heart, killing him. His partner warned the others that we were rebelling before I killed him as well. As the blood of the two cultists dripped down from the spear, I convinced the other slaves to rise up and fight back.”

Erza looked at her old friends, a smile formed on her face.

Shô and his group had relaxed as well and were now smiling as well, however.

“For the sake of freedom and to save Jellal, those were the reason we fought. But the next time that I would see Jellal, he had changed completely. If you could call someone completely evil, then that person would probably be Jellal.”

Shô, Wally and Miliana became confused by this and were about to ask Erza what she meant by this, but Simon stopped them and signaled them to continue listening.

“We fought bitterly for multiple for multiple days and with each day, we lost many people. I tried to persuade them to free Jellal, but he was kept in the living area of the cult, which was just crawling with cultists. I became desperate, all I wanted at that moment was to free Jellal. However, the situation became dire for us, because the cultists had sent their corpse puppets and their mages against us.”

(AN: In the anime, it was the corpse puppets, in the manga it was the mages, and, in my version, it is both. Also, for some reason, the upper half of the faces of cultists were covered by masks in the anime.)

Zeldaris and Aversia could already imagine what Erza was about to tell them.

“They were decimating us. We had no chance to fight back. Many died or received heavy injuries.”

Erza looked at Simon, who in turn, touched his eye patch.

“Everyone was losing hope, and many were already running away. I on the other hand was still too focused on rescuing Jellal, until a fire ball was about to hit me. But in the last second, someone threw themselves before me and shielded me from the attack. It was old man Rob, who had also been in the same cell with us. He had been something like a caring grandfather for all of us and many of us would have lost their minds or their lives if not for him.”

Anger and sadness filled Erza´s eyes as she remembered Rob´s last words.

‘Freedom is in your heart… Erza your dream will surely be fulfilled, as long as you believe in it.’

“His death was too much for me and something snapped inside me, releasing the magic power inside of me and giving me the strength to destroy the puppets and kill the cultists.”

Wally could still remember that moment clearly.

As Erza wept above Rob´s corps, energy radiated out of her.

Erza´s cries became louder, and her power became stronger, until all of the weapons that lied on the ground suddenly begun to fly in the air and started to attack the corpses and the mages, killing them.

“From there, everything became easy, and we managed to capture the boats of the cult. Everyone prepared the ships to set sail, while I would recue Jellal. Needless to say, they had nothing left to throw at me and I defeated or killed everyone that stood in my way, until I arrived at the room where Jellal was. After I freed him from his prison, I franticly started to tell him everything that happened and told them that we could finally leave this island. But his response was, why would we need to leave?”

Simon, Shô, Miliana and Simon were surprised by this, and Simon clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes.

“He told me that freedom does not exist and that if we want to find true freedom, then we will find it in the world of Zeref. At that time, I was not able to understand what he meant by that.”

Everyone, except the twin half dragons who were rolling with their eyes, were shocked by this.

“He then talked about, that he could now appreciate the feeling of reviving Zeref. But that they could not understand the full function of the tower and that he would finish it himself. I became scared of what he said, scared of him. And to make matters worse, he started to brutally murder the remaining cultists, while they begged for mercy.”

Zeldaris and Aversia became irritated, not by the last part, because as far as they were concerned, the cultists could never die too painfully, but the whole finishing the tower and resurrecting Zeref part was a bit too much for them, especially since said person was still alive.

“I asked him to stop, but he just laughed as he butchered them. I told him to get a hold of himself, that he was not acting like himself that it was because of the days that he had been tortured. But I was wrong. I was blown through the room, into a corridor by Jellal´s magic. He had pointed it directly at me. And as I was getting up, he asked me one last time, if I wanted to leave. I was completely scared at this point, but I still answered yes.”

Erza´s eyes demeanor became sharp and serious.

“After hearing my answer, he told me that I could have my freedom but that everyone else would stay behind and would belong to him.”

Shô and Wally stared in disbelieve, they wanted to shout out that Erza was wrong that Jellal would never do such a thing, but Simon stopped them.

“At the beginning I thought that he would fail, that the others would never support him by staying behind, but I was too naïve, and he knew it. Because he told me how he would make them work for him, by giving them what the cultists took from them, a live. As for me, I was not allowed to tell anyone about this, not the council or the kingdom, otherwise Jellal would kill the tower and everyone inside it. And if I would ever come back too it, he would kill them all, starting with Simon and the others. I lost consciousness after Jellal finished saying this and the next thing I remember was as I washed up at the shore of a beach, crying my heart out.”

Erza´s shoulder trembled lightly, she tried to hold her tears back, trying to cover her broken heart.

But a sudden hug from behind brought her back from her memories.

Erza turned around and saw Miliana hugging her, tears dripping down her eyes and saying, ‘I am sorry Erza, I had no idea.’

“How… How can this be, you are lying big sister!? It was you who burned down the boats after going crazy from your magic!” yelled Shô, desperately clawing at what he knew.

Wally was also trying to refute Erza´s words but was unable to come up with any arguments and was just stuttering words.

Simon on the other hand was clenching his fists, but it seemed as if he already knew about it.

Everyone else was of course shocked after hearing all of this, they felt sympathy for their friend.

“There are many things you do not know. But do you really believe that Erza would willingly burn down your path for freedom, after how hard she had fought for it, after she lost so much? Are you that stupid?” yelled Aversia toward Shô, she tried to be calm, but his emotions were like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

“It doesn´t even mean that what you said, or experienced was wrong, after all, how can you be sure that Jellal didn´t use the unconcise Erza and controlled her body and destroyed the ships before throwing her into the sea.” Zeldaris said, a bit calmer than Aversia, but his emotions were also about to blow up

“I… I… I don´t know. I don´t know what I should believe anymore.” Shô said while holding his head and kneeling down on the ground, his mind was in absolute chaos.

Wally on the other hand seemed to take it much better and kneeled before Erza, apologizing to her rapidly and shedding tears.

Erza was honestly surprised by all of it, but none the less happy that she could reunite with her friends and family like that, she patted Miliana´s head while telling Wally that he and the others have nothing to apologize for.

Natsu wanted to disagree, but Lucy and Gray quickly shut his mouth, while Zeldaris and Aversia hold back their sarcastic comments.

Meanwhile Juvia was crying a water fall of tears, seeing this scene of friendship that she never had in her live and hoped that she could achieve for herself, with her darling Gray of course.

“Well, well, well, looks like the truth has been finally revealed. It is true, I controlled Erza´s body and made her destroy the ships. But I don´t care since the tower has already been completed and the resurrection of Lord Zeref is upon us.” said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere.

Everyone started to look around and saw that giant mouths appeared on the walls, the ceiling and even on the grounds.

(AN: I am not making this up, in the manga mouths appeared everywhere and Jellal made his speech through them. In the anime he used the figures that were carved in the walls.)

“”JELLAL!”” yelled Erza, Simon, and Miliana as they heard the voice.

Miliana let go of Erza and stared hateful at the mouths.

 

“Now, now, you should here what I have to say.”

Zeldaris and Aversia knew this voice, it sounded exactly like Siegrain, the council member that had sent them to this place in the first place.

Erza and Miliana yelled a few curses at Jellal, before stopping and listening to what he had to say.

“As you know, I want to resurrect Lord Zeref and there is only one thing left for that goal. The sacrifice of Erza. So, lets make a game out of it, the game of heaven. The rules for that game are quite simple. I win by resurrecting Zeref, and you win by stopping me, before that happens. However, to make matters more interesting, I have enlisted some knights that will fight on my behalf. The only way for you to reach me is to defeat these knights. And to add one final thing, the council is currently debating on firing the satellite cannon on the tower and the likely hood of them actually firing it is quite high. If they fire the Etherion onto this tower, then everyone will die, and no one will be the winner.” Jellal explained, sounding quite happy at the situation.

“But why would the council take such drastic measures?” Erza asked in confusion.

“If I had to guess, then it is most likely that they know about Jellal´s plan about resurrecting Zeref.” Aversia speculated.

She and Zeldaris know that Zeref is in reality alive and somewhere near this tower, probably on some island in this sea.

Their eyes have never lied to them about such things, and they had heard a few things about Zeref from Igneel, so they know that Zeref can´t die.

But they can´t call Jellal out on the fact that he trying to resurrect someone that is still alive, because everyone believes that Zeref is dead, and the knowledge that the evilest mage in history was alive and somewhere nearby, would do more harm than good.

“No, I won´t let you do this!” yelled Shô, surprising almost everyone.

“Shô.” Erza said with warm smile, walking toward her friend, and tried to calm him down, while patting his head.

 “Then without any further things to ad, let the games begin. Bahahaha!!!” Jellal said as the mouths began to disappear.

Erza stopped patting Shô´s head and looked at the other members of the guild and Juvia before saying, “Now that you heard all of this. Please, leave this tower. I will handle Jellal.”

“Erza?! What are you saying? We are friends, aren´t we? Then let us help you!” Natsu said, not willing to abandon one of his closest friends.

“He is right you know.” Gray added, while crossing his arms.

“Yeah, Erza. You have helped me so many times, so at least once, let me help you.” Lucy said.

“Everyone…” Erza was touched by their words, but still, she could not drag all of them into her problems.

*Clank*

*Clank*

The sound metal being rammed into the ground was suddenly rang out and everyone in the room looked at the source of it.

Zeldaris and Aversia had both summoned a weapon and rammed it into the ground.

Aversia, her trusty odachi, still in its sheath.

Zeldaris a metal lance.

“It seems like you have forgotten something, Erza.” Aversia said with a smile.

“As long as you are part of Fairy Tail, all of your problems, all of your pain, are also part of the guild. When we see a friend in need of help, we will help them, this is how the guild had always operated and this time it is not different.” continued Zeldaris.

“They are right Erza. All you have to do is say one word.” Gray said with a smile.

Erza hesitated, could she really hope for help.

After eight years of carrying that burden, of knowing that she was living on borrowed time.

Could she really ask for help, after everything that happened?

“Erza, you have suffered for our sake for eight long years. You don´t need to shoulder this burden anymore.” Simon said, knowing what was going through Erza´s mind.

Erza bit on her lower lip before saying with tears in her left eye, “Please, help me.”