Heaven's Bitter Path

Erza slowly awakens and she finds herself tied to a wooden pole by her arms. She finds Sho as well as Ping in the room leading on a wall with her arms folded and her eyes closed. 
"Sho?" Erza asked slowly regaining consciousness.
"Nice to see you awake, sister." Sho said.
Ping began to speak up. "Don't bother struggling; those restraints are the same ones that Millianna used on your pathetic friends. There's no getting out of that."
"If you wanted Aang, why did you help them get to me?" Erza asked.
"Don't misunderstand, I wanted to kill the Avatar, but circumstances beyond my control prevented me from doing that. You were their main target, so unfortunately that Avatar gets to live another day for now." Ping looked down to Erza and was pleasantly surprised when she wasn't struggling to get out from her restraints, or throwing a threat their way. "What's wrong Erza, from what I heard about you. It isn't like the legendary Titania to accept defeat like this. Maybe all of you Fairy Tail wizards are nothing but talk." Ping walks to the door. "Sho, I'll go along with this plan, but remember the Avatar is mine. If I have even the slightest feeling that you and your boss won't hold your end of the deal, you're all as good as dead and that's a promise." After her threat she walked out of the room inside the ship.
Erza looks up to Sho who is still inside the room looking at her. "Sho, can you please untie me? I don't plan to fight back. Please?" Erza requested and it has sounded more like she was pleading.
Sho confidently eyed her. "No, I can't do that. I can't trust the words of a traitor."
"Then can you at least let me change into my armor? I'm scared to go back to that place without it." Erza asked hoping that Sho would at least give her the chance to do so.
Sho surprisingly got down and he hugs her. "Believe me I don't want to do any of this, I have missed you so much, sister. I just want to know one thing…" Sho was sounding more as if he regretted doing any of this. 
"WHY DID YOU BETRAY JELLAL!?" He asked while screaming at her in rage, which was to complete opposite of his sincerity a few moments ago.
After he asks this Erza flashes back to a moment in her past and she remembers a blue haired boy telling her that they get their freedom back.
Outside of the room on the bow of the ship, Ping was looking at the tower ahead of her; she held one of her katanas in her right hand. "Something doesn't seem right about all of this. If Jellal wants Erza dead, then why would he not give one of us the order to kill her, and he had the chance to rid ourselves of Fairy Tail once and for all. So why didn't we? I'd ask Simon, but I bet he won't tell me anything. So I'm going to go to Jellal personally and get to the bottom of this." Ping glared at the tower. "Jellal, for your sake, you better give me a proper answer to all of this!"
----Inside the base of the magical council situated in Era, the magical council and its members were now discussing the current situation. "Is this true!?"
"Yes. We have heard reports of its existence."
"The R-System."
"Yes… it would seem so." Ultear said as she was also on the council
One of the members of the magical council brought it up inside a dark grey magical seal. "It's location is on an island situated in the sea, off the Caelum coast."
"So those wizards who were part of that magic cult long ago are planning to activate it?"
"No, we have heard reports that those wizards who were involved in the Akane incident are now occupying the R-System as we speak."
"Tower of Heaven." They all heard and they all looked to Siegrain who was also on the council. "It is the Tower of Heaven, not the R-System." He corrected.
"Whatever it is called. It is a weapon that must be destroyed Siegrain, even though it was built by your twin brother Jellal."
When this was said, it surprised several members of the council.
----Meanwhile on the shores of the Tower of Heaven were Sho, Simon, Wally, Millianna who was hugging the unconscious figures of Momo and Happy. Ping and Chun were also to the side of them.
"I can't believe it, you actually completed it." Erza said with some fear evident in her voice.
"I don't get it. It just looks like a huge evil palace to me." Chun said.
"I see. It appears they haven't told you the true purpose of this tower."
"It's true purpose?"
Before Erza could keep talking Ping had an small blade in between her fingers and glared at Erza. "Let's not forget you're our prisoner Erza Scarlet. I don't need you filling her head with nonsence. Jellal wants you alive but I'm not inclined to keep my end of the deal if things go wrong."
"You don't even truly know what is going on do you?" Erza said to Ping.
"So what?" The swordswoman responded. "Chun and I are only helping them so that we will have our chance to end the Avatar's life. If we have to make a mysterious tower our base of operations. So be it. Ping began to walk forward. "I'm going to find Jellal and have a talk with him about our deal, Chun you coming?"
"Actually, I'm going to stay with them and help take Erza to her cell."
"Excellent, just remember that this plan cannot fail."
"I understand…" Chun said maintaining a serious look
----At the same time, Appa was flying just above the water, on his back were Gray, Ash, Ryu, Lucy, Juvia, Natsu, Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko and Sokka.
"You have no idea how much I love flying!" Natsu exclaimed as he was lying on his back.
"Stop slacking, we're supposed to be relying on your nose here." Grey said
Katara looked back at the Akane resort. "Lucy, those people that were trapped in the cards, will they be alright?"
"Yeah, I'm sure they will be, I contacted the council about them."
"That's a relief."
"This place we're heading to, we can be pretty sure that Erza, Momo and the blue cat are being held there?" Sokka asked.
"We can be sure of that." Lucy answered
"Good cause I'm getting revenge on that Blockhead for shooting me in the head like that." Toph angrily said.
Lucy was thinking about something. "They were old friends of Erza's, well accept for those girls from the Fire Nation of course."
"So run it by me again? What kind of wizards are we dealing with?" Zuko asked.
"I'm not sure if I got their names right but one of them, who's name is Sho. I'm assuming he's a card magic user." Katara described. "Then we have Millianna who is practically the Ty Lee of this world, she uses ropes to prevent people from using their magic."
"Ha! That's no problem for us is it!?" Sokka exclaimed.
"You can't even bend, so how is that good for you?" Gray asked. "Either way we should be careful, if these guys could take Erza without a giving us a proper fight, then they have to be formidable."
"You are right Gray-sama." Juvia said with a light squeal.
"Uh do we know you?" Aang and Natsu asked the water mage in quickly turned white at their question. After they asked Appa felt slightly tired and he made a loud yawn.
"Appa, are you tired?" Aang asked
"But that's impossible, we left the Akane resort not too long ago." Lucy added.
"Hold on." Natsu said. "I feel that something is not right."
"I know for a fact something's not right. We're getting closer to the R-System." Ryu nodded.
"What's the R-System?" Aang asked.
"A place I hoped I'd never return to." Ryu explained, looking down at the saddle. "But that's beside the point, we need to get Erza back."
Appa fell into the sea and was now floating on top of the water while moving.
"Hey, over there!" Zuko yelled, they saw birds that were dying as they had begun to fall into the water.
Katara had put her hand over her mouth. "How awful…"
"It's just as bad in the water. Look." Sokka was pointing to the dead fish that had risen to the surface and also there were pieces of ships from the magical council on the surface.
"But those are council ships. How could this happen?" Lucy asked.
"Something tells me, we're not going to like the answer." Toph said.
"I thought of something what if this happens to Appa?"
"Juvia has a solution for that." Juvia said. "I can create a water dome that will protect and hide us."
"But won't it still be seen from the shore?" Zuko asked.
"Not if Appa dives underwater." Aang suggested.
"What!" Natsu yelled.
"I could always create a huge enough bubble to support all of us, but Appa is too big." Katara said.
"If that is the case, then let Juvia help you." The water mage said. A blue magical circle had appeared after Juvia outstretched her right hand upwards; individual whips of water were getting sucked into the magical seal
"My turn." Katara raised water from the surface which she added to the water Juvia was already absorbing into her magical seal. Soon a huge blue water dome that also covered Appa's underside had formed. The underside was formed thanks to Katara's input.
"Dive buddy." Aang said to Appa, the bison's eyes grew and he performed a loud roar before diving into the water.
"We make a pretty good team, don't you think?" Katara said looking at Juvia.
"Juvia agrees with you."
"You'd make a pretty good waterbender." Aang complimented.
"What is a 'waterbending'?" Juvia asked. "Is it some kind of special water magic?"
"We don't use magic, accept for Natsu, Gray and Lucy." Zuko said.
"How can you not use magic, when Juvia clearly sees you using magic when you fight, are you not a wizard?"
"No, but we should probably explain this later. We're getting close."
Inside the Tower of Heaven Sho, Simon and Chun were taking Erza to her prison cell. Soon she was inside and was tied to a hook in the prison cell. Sho was standing beside her while Chun was folding her arms at the prison door, while Simon departed.
"It is nice to see you again sister, but soon you will be the very sacrifice that brings back the very person we need." Sho said.
"Sacrifice, I don't get it?" Chun said. "You keep saying things like she's going to be sacrificed to revive someone, what are you people talking about?"
"I'm not surprised they didn't tell you. You are a kid after all." Erza said. "But still I can't believe you simply plan to use the R-System."
"Okay! I'm getting annoyed here. Is anyone going to tell me what this Tower of Heaven... R-System is?"
"If you insist." Sho said. "This tower was built for a specific person, to bring back someone who has already died." Sho formed a sadistic smile that slightly scared Chun.
"W-why are you smiling like that?"
"Because, in order to revive someone the cost is to sacrifice another living life." He explained with an evil smile. Chun was visibly scared but tried to keep a brave face.
"I-is that what this is all about? You plan to sacrifice Erza? I never knew the plan was this diabolical." As Chun said this, they both saw Erza shivering.
"Are you scared sister? Is it the fact you are about to become a sacrifice, or that this is the same prison cell that we were captured in way back when."
"What are you talking about?"
"You sure are nosy kid." Sho said. "You should have stayed with your other-world companion. I'm sure Jellal won't mind if I shut you up." As he pulled out one of his cards, it was suddenly burned by a light purple stream of fire.
"I'm sure that Jellal won't mind if I roast your butt you pathetic psycho!" Chun exclaimed remaining in a defensive Fire bending stance. Both of them had begun to stare each other down. Sho chuckled.
"Heh, you have spunk kid, you remind me of Erza, and how brave she was when she tried to lead us to our freedom some years back. Though that was also when she betrayed Jellal, which is why she is in this position right now."
While Sho was talking to Chun, Erza was remembering her time in this very cell. She was taken to be punished for allegedly coming up with the plan to escape the Tower of Heaven. Before Jellal had tried to convince the guards it was him, but they saw through his lie and had taken Erza when originally it was actually Sho who came up with the plan and he was crying his eyes out at the time while he was with the rest of his group.
"Sister, I apologize for not being strong enough to confess to the guards back then."
"Sho, are you aware of the consequences for using the R-System? A lot of people are going to be killed from this device." Erza asked.
Sho laughed. "It won't matter sister. We are creating a Heaven that will have us as its rulers, when that happens we won't care about anyone else."
Chun's eyes had grown wide as she was shocked at what Sho was saying. "To capture the Avatar… at the cost of so many lives. I'm sworn to my duty as a Fire Nation citizen, but is this really the right way to do it it's not fair to involve so many innocent people in this. What should I do?" While Chun was thinking to herself Erza had managed to unhook herself, while she was restrained she punched Sho with both hands and sent him into unconsciousness. She managed to free herself from her restraints
"Sho was different from how he was when he was young. It's amazing how people change." Erza thought. She looked to Chun. "You must be one of the benders who are trying to capture Aang. How could you still side with Jellal now that you know what his plan? People of the Fire Nation must really be despicable."
All of Chun's past fears had now been suppressed and was only feeling one emotion… rage. She was now put together with the ideas of most of the Fire Nation, or rather the opinions of those who were close to Phoenix King Ozai, and now Erza was grouping her with them. She didn't like the Fire Nation's tactics, and she sure didn't like them now, but what choice did she have? Erza didn't understand and Chun planned to make her understand. "You… you don't know me!" Chun screamed. In anger she shot a purple fireball at Erza who had sidestepped the flame. Erza requipped into her Heart Kreuz Armor and faced the Firebender. "We're not all evil and heartless, you know!" She ran to Erza, but the armored mage jumped over the firebender, she ran out of the cell with Chun pursuing her. Erza turned to face Chun however she was soon engulfed in a huge stream of light purple fire. Chun's eyes quickly widened and she stopped her flames fearing that she had burned Erza, but was surprised when she came out in her Flame Empress Armor. A scarlet magic circle appeared on her right hand, she grabbed her scarlet red sword and she charged towards Chun, however before Erza could slice her, the Firebender jumped up, her feet slid backwards along with her whole body.
Erza's sword was now engulfed in orange fire, she slashed the air which shot a vertical arc of fire towards Chun. The firebender moved her arms in a quick flowing circular motion in order to block the flames from hitting her.
"You say, you don't share the same bad intentions as the Fire Nation army? If that is the case why are you helping them?"
Chun had her arms to her side and her fists were clenched. 
"…Because I have no choice! If I fail the Fire Nation, someone very important to me is going to die, and I can't let that happen. I won't!" Chun shot a powerful, thin stream of fire towards Erza it hit her gauntlet which made it explode off her right hand this forced her to drop her sword. After Erza looked down to pick up her sword she heard the familiar sound of electricity. She was shocked when she saw Chun outstretch two of her right fingers towards her direction, a huge surge of blue electricity was heading for Erza, it however exploded on the ground in front of her and created an explosive shock wave that cause her to slide back on her feet. When she looked at the Firebender, she noticed that the sides of her hair were covering her eyes and tears were sliding down her cheeks. 
"Go." Chun simply said.
Erza transformed back into her Heart Kreuz armor. "You're letting me go?"
"I'm... having a temporary change of heart." She looked angrily at Erza. "GO! …Before I change my mind!" As Erza ran from the area, Chun pointed two fingers at her running figure in an attempt to fire a bolt of electricity, however her hand turned to a fist in deciding against it. Chun had punched the wall, as she did, light purple embers sparked from her hand as if she was going to blast fire from her fist. "I let her go! I'm such an idiot! Damn you to hell Ozai!"
Erza was now running through the tower with two blades in her hands. "I will find you, Jellal!"
----The magic council is still arguing on what to do about the situation. They now begin to deliberate on what they should do. As they are Siegrain says this. "So is this how weak you all are? If you want to destroy the Tower of Heaven there is only one magic that is capable of destroying it. The most powerful form of magic we have in our arsenal. Etherion!" The second Jellal said those words, the all the members save for Ultear were shocked. Etherion was a weapon that was capable of mass destruction, too powerful to be deemed useful for their causes. Once Siegrain suggested the idea Yajima had glared at him.
"Siegrain! Do you know what you are suggesting? The use of the dimensional magic?"
"The power of that weapon is capable of destroying an entire nation. The use of that weapon shouldn't be justified."
"This is the only action we can take, we must fire Etherion!"
Ultear raises her hand. "I agree with Siegrain. Etherion is possibly the only weapon that will be useful against the R-System."
After this another member of the council raised their hand in support of Siegrain's plan to fire Etherion.
"We only need three more votes to fire Etherion, please we need to destroy the Tower of Heaven." Siegrain said as it sounded like he was pleading with his fellow members.
"Siegrain. You know that if you do this. It will also result in your twin brother's death." One member reminded.
"Yes I am aware, however I am prepared to do this." Siegrain replied.
----Jellal was sitting on his throne with Vidaldus looking at him. "Those fools on the council think they can stop me." He began. "No matter what happens, he will be reborn."
"Are you sure you should have left the Erza's friends alive? They will just come here to rescue her and try and stop our plans?"
"Do you doubt me Vidaldus? As I told you before, I have plans for three people in particular. Erza, The Salamander; Natsu and the 'Elemental Wizard' Avatar Aang. I am even more intrigued because of what those girls from the Fire Nation told me about him as well as themselves." As Jellal said this Ping angrily walked into the room.
"Jellal! What do you think you are doing?!" Ping angrily asked while holding a small throwing knife.
"Ping, what is it that you are talking about?"
"Simon said that you didn't want me killing the Avatar. What I want to know is why? We had a deal!"
"It seems you don't fully understand, do you? The Avatar holds a great power inside him. It is all part of my game, to test the real strength of the Avatar in combat." Ping slightly growled at Jellal.
"You can't do that!? He is my bounty, I will be the one to defeat him, for the Fire Nation."
Jellal rose from his throne. "I care not for your honor. You are simply one of my peons in my game, and I know more about this Avatar than you do?"
"Oh yeah, how so? I'm the one who told you about bending and how he doesn't use magic."
"Wrong." Jellal said. "You underestimate him, even though he is just a child. The Avatar… Aang he is capable of using magic." Ping's eyes grew as soon as he said this.
"Impossible, he wasn't born in this world. How is that possible!?"
"You don't need to know. Aang, just like Natsu will only continue to grow in strength. I want to test his strength for myself. Personally I can't wait for the moment when the both of us have our inevitable dual." Jellal said as he smiled evilly.
Ping got angry at him. "So that was your plan!? You planned to kill him for yourself. I will not allow that!"
Jellal smirked. "I can tell you want power, and you are tired of Benders and Wizards being more powerful than you. You desire power you feel you deserve."
Ping threw her throwing sword at Jellal and it swiped past the side of his face and small droplets of blood was showing. "Don't toy with me Jellal!" Ping growled as she unsheathed her blade with her right hand.
"Zeref…can assist you…" Jellal said, his hand was now engulfed in an aura of a purplish black colour. Jellal began walking slowly to her.
"What are… back off! I'm warning you!" Ping exclaimed.
"Zeref has seen your potential and with his help, you will have all the power you need…"
Jellal had placed his palm on her stomach. Ping's eyes grew wide. Her blade that she held had fallen to the ground. A loud scream was made by her. Her entire body was being covered in red magical symbols soon they disappeared into her skin and had felt a pain on her stomach region. She lifted her shirt to reveal her torso, a red mark that shared the same marking as the one on Jellal's face was showing while it was pulsing a dark purple color. As soon as Ping looked at it, a devilish smile had formed across her face. She picked up her blade and saw that purple magical symbols were glowing on it before they quickly disappeared.
"What have you done to me?" Ping asked, however the former expression on her face gave the impression that she already know the answer.
"You have the power that you deserve. You are now a darkness wizard. Your swords have become infused with the same magical energy, with this much power you will be more than a match for those Fairy Tail wizards."
Ping's smile returned. "That is all I wanted to know…I will allow you to fight the Avatar as long as you don't plan on killing him, that right is reserved for me!"
"If that is what you desire." Jellal said. Ping had left the room while sheathing her sword back into its hilt.
"Jellal, are you sure that was a smart decision?" Vidaldus asked.
"Ping has a lot of darkness and hate in her heart. Zeref was drawn to her hatred. It is that very that hatred will boost her magical power. She is still expendable, and I will dispose of her if she tries to betray me. But right now, she will be more of an ally than a hindrance. Ping has now become an important piece in my plan."
Ping was walking down a hallway while a black aura was radiating off her.
----The combined teams of Team Natsu and Team Avatar had gotten to the shore of the tower after Appa had surfaced from the water.
"So it looks like we're here." Aang said
"What are we waiting for!? Let's get in there!?" Natsu exclaimed.
"Wait you idiot!" Grey said. "We can't go in there now, look at all the guards."
"You're right. We don't want to alert then that we are here already, we may have to sneak inside." Katara had begun looking around. "Has anyone seen Juvia? Toph?"
"Nope she's not anywhere near us on land." The Earthbender replied.
Soon the girl in question rose her head up from the water, this made Sokka jump up in surprise. "Juvia has found a passage that will take us inside." The water mage walked to the shore. "It will be a ten minute swim underwater to get there."
"That's no problem for me!" Natsu said.
"That goes double for me, let's do it." Gray replied.
"Are you kidding!?" Lucy yelled. "It's impossible to hold your breath for that long!"
Juvia had a water bubble floating above her hand. "Then Juvia will create a bubble that has oxygen inside it so you can breathe underwater."
"Good call Juvia, that way we can all get inside undetected." Katara said.
"Yeah, that's awesome. " Grey praised.
Juvia suddenly got in Lucy's face. "Gray-sama praised Juvia! Not you!"
Lucy who was startled by her slightly submitted to her. "O-okay then." Lucy saw that Toph had her hands tightly clutched to her own forearms as if she was afraid. "Is something wrong Toph?"
Toph noticed Lucy talking to her and place her hands on her hips. "Yeah sure I'm alright…" Lucy noticed Toph looking towards the water. "It's just with me being blind, I hate being close to the water? I can't really swim. I almost drowned in the water one time, I'm just…" Toph felt Lucy's hand take hers.
"Don't worry Toph, I'll hold your hand all the way through. I'm not going to let you drown."
"You better not." Toph said as she tightened her grip.
----Happy had woken up after he had passed out. He looked around and was shocked when he found out the room he was in had a cat theme. "It's all cats!" Happy yelled. The blue cat saw Momo was already awake and he was grooming himself. "Momo, where are we?" the lemur walked to Happy and began to communicate with him using lemur chirps. "You know I have no idea what you are saying right?" Happy told the lemur while he sweat dropped. Suddenly Millianna had looked at both of them with huge eyes which had frightened them.
"Feelin' Spiffy?" she asked with a small heart rising from her.
"Feelin' Spiffy." Happy replied as if it was an answer. He was suddenly grabbed by her and felt all the air leave his body.
"A talking kitty!" She looked to Momo, who tilted his head when looking at her. "And what about you, white kitty? Do you talk?" Momo flew up and began chirping and tried to loosen Millianna's grip on Happy. He was suddenly hugged by her as well. "Even if you don't talk. You're still cute anyway!"
Momo was chirping loudly, the top of Happy's head became dark blue with black lines flowing down it. "Forget it, resistance is futile." Happy said.
"Millianna." They heard. Wally was seen in the corner of her room.
"The Blockhead!" Happy exclaimed
"You should try being more dandy." He began. "Don't think of him as a talking cat, but rather. He is a cat, because he talks."
"You're not making any sense." Happy pointed out.
"…And I'm pretty sure that the white thing isn't a cat." Wally said.
"Well he looks like a cat and I'm keeping him!" she exclaimed defiantly.
All of them now saw guards running around outside the room.
"Quickly you two, Erza has escaped and we have to re-capture her."
"I'm not surprised, that is like Er-chan." Millianna commented.
Happy quickly got scared. "What is that dark presence coming this way!?"
Sandals were clanking on the floor a pair of glowing gold eyes glowed through the dark aura surrounding the figure. "Forget about Erza!" the figure exclaimed. The dark aura disappeared and Ping was revealed to be that very figure. "You prepare to fight against those Fairy Tail wizards. I will recapture Erza!" Ping announced.
"What happened to you? Actually who are you?" Happy asked while he slightly cowered.
"You dare talk directly to me you cat peasant!?"
"Don't talk to my kitty-kitty like that! It's not nice to be mean to kitty-kitties!" Millianna exclaimed getting in Ping's face. Both girls began glaring at each other.
"I have no time for this, wasting my energy on you wouldn't be worth it. You remind me of an annoying chi-blocker I know."
"What does Simon have to say about this?" Wally asked.
"I wouldn't know, my new powers allow me to block him out of my head. I will go about this operation my way, and anyone who gets in my way…" Ping only slightly raised her sword from her hilt, it glowed dark purple as it let loose a huge shock wave which was enough to force Millianna to the ground. "That is only a small taste of what they will get. So that is it, do whatever you want, but don't get in my way!" Ping walked away from the room.
Soon the entire group was underwater, Juvia who was surrounded by a water whirlpool was leading the group through the underwater passage and everyone apart from the water mage had water bubbles that were providing oxygen to them. Lucy was in her bikini, Katara was in her undergarments, while Toph was dressed in a strapless crop top with dark green shorts she was holding onto Lucy's left arm with both her hands.
Aang only remained in his black shorts, Natsu's was red with black and yellow flames on them, Grey's were sky blue and white. Sokka who still had his sword strapped to his back was wearing dark blue shorts, and Zuko was wearing dark red shorts.
They had gotten inside the tower, everyone surfaces in their swimming outfits with the exception of Juvia.
"So we made it inside now." Aang stated
"Those water bubbles were very useful, even though it made all of us look quite silly." Lucy said
Juvia's eyes turned to four pointed stars, while she looked towards Lucy and Toph. A chipmunk laugh was heard in the background. "You did well in making your breath last, since Juvia made your bubble smaller than the others."
Toph quickly got up into her face. "Are you crazy!? If Lucy drowned I would have drowned with her you nut!"
"Katara would have saved you. I need to eliminate my love rival."
"Love rival?!" Toph questioned and her left eye twitched. Toph created a powerful earth column that shot Juvia into the air, she fell to her back. "That was for nearly drowning me!" All of them soon see guards approaching their position. There were many guards inside the room on the ground, on walkways on higher floor, as well as on pillars.
"So I take it that they are the welcoming committee." Zuko commented while he got into a stance.
"Who are you wizards? Do you know where you are!?" One of the guards asked while on top of a pillar.
"Who are we? Let us show you. Chaos Dragon Roar!" Ryu released a stream of dark fire from his mouth.
Natsu's fist was engulfed in flames, he threw a punch at the very pillar the guard was standing on and he fell to the ground with the rubble.
"H-he's some kind of monster!" One of the guards yelled.
"We are from Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed. "Fire Dragon Roar!" he shot a powerful stream of fire from his mouth which had scorched many of the guards. Zuko was throwing many fire jabs at the guards.
"Just get out of our way already!" Zuko created long, thick fire whips extending from hands which managed to collide with all of the guards around him.
Grey had planted the side of his right fist on his left palm. "Ice-Make: Lance!" Ice shards had engulfed both of Grey's hands and he shot multiple ice lances towards the guards.
"Heads up Gray!" Katara yelled. She bent a huge amount of the water that they swam in earlier and formed it into a huge wave once the wave engulfed the guards the water began to freeze immobilizing the guards.
"Nice of them to… cool off." Sokka joked while he slashed through the guards spears. His sword glowed light yellow which made a blinding that blinded the guards in front of him for a short time. In their poor vision many of them were unable to see a huge line of twisted columns shooting to the ground speeding to them which resulted in a large group of them being sent up into the air.
"Not funny Sokka, plus this isn't the time for stupid puns." Toph said.
"C'mon you have to admit that was funny."
"Honestly, I would rather listen to Elfman's foolish 'man' comments than hear you tell a dumb joke."
"That's hurtful!" Sokka exclaimed.
A huge party of guards were heading to Lucy. "No way we're going to lose to a girl in a bikini!"
"She is so hot!"
Lucy glared at them "Gate of the Maiden! I open thee! Virgo!" A doorbell sound it heard and Virgo appears.
"You have summoned me Princess?" Virgo asked awaiting Lucy's request.
"Oh forget the bikini girl! The maid is better!" A guard exclaimed.
"Please punish them for me!" Lucy said pointing at the guards with an anime vein on the side of her head.
"As you wish princess." Virgo's blue eyes glowed red. The next minute a huge line of earth was seen shooting past the long line of guards.
The guards begin shooting their magic rifles at Juvia, however this plan of attack was proving useless as the beams were simply going through her. "What the hell is she!?"
"Drip, drip, drop." Juvia said as a blue magic circle appeared in front of her. "Water Slicer!" Juvia yelled a huge wave of water had cut through the huge group of guards standing in front of her.
Aang was surrounded by many guards. "He's just one kid. This will be easy!"
Some began firing their magic rifles, while they also charged to Aang with spears. The Airbender was dodging all of their attacks. Aang laughed. "Nice try." He jumped up high and got to a stone rafter. He blasted a huge stream of fire which hit the ground forcing the guards to run from him. Aang jumped from the rafter, he held his breath while falling, he blew a powerful gust of air to the ground which made a huge wave of air which blew in all directions and the guards flew back. More guards began to shoot at him. Aang made a circular barrier of earth which surrounded him, once they stopped shooting Aang jumped up on top of the wall, he shot many individual fire jabs to make the guards drop their magic rifles. He jumped to the ground and ran in a very fast speed, while he engulfed his right hand in earth he punched the guards with that hand while running at super speed. Aang looked behind him, he saw the guards with spinning birds around their heads and drool coming out of their mouths. "Wow, to be honest I expected you guys to be a lot stronger for some reason."
Grey created an Ice Hammer, he dropped it on many of the guards while Natsu was punching many of them with his hands engulfed in his orange flames. Aang was avoiding their blasts while jumping around with air cyclones surrounding his feet. Those guards that were shooting were thrown across the room with a huge earth wave.
"Are we done yet?" Toph asked as they all saw the guards knocked out on the floor.
"We need to move before they find out we're here…" Lucy began. "Oh who am I kidding?"
"Are you surprised? We have a destruction streak going if you haven't noticed." Katara deadpanned.
They heard a moving wall and saw that a huge door was falling like a drawbridge. "This is obviously a trap." Zuko warned.
"So? They have Happy in there!" Natsu yelled.
"And Momo." Aang added.
"That and Erza. Whoever is in charge is baiting us in. They want us to go in there." Zuko added
"What choice do we have? We're not going to stop after swimming all the way down here." Toph exclaimed.
"Well if they are going to invite us in, it would be rude to decline their invitation." Sokka said.
"If we have decided, well then what are we waiting for?" Grey said.
The huge group walked through the entrance to the Tower of Heaven going in to save Erza, Happy and Momo.
…
Meanwhile at the council another one of the members raised their hand to support Siegrain's plan of firing Etherion at the Tower of Heaven bringing the vote to four.
"We only need two more votes to be able to fire Etherion!" Siegrain said as he began to plead again to his fellow council members.
Still, many of the other members who haven't voted for firing the weapon were glaring at Siegrain including Yajima.
----Later, the group was running through the tower. Natsu's nose began sniffing the air, he abruptly stopped. "What's up Natsu?" Aang asked. "You smell something?"
"Yeah I do." The group followed Natsu to the room where the smell was coming from. Once they entered, a table that housed a feast full of food was seen. "The Blockhead isn't here!" Natsu exclaimed.
"I could have told you that y'know." Toph pointed out.
Soon Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Toph, Sokka, Aang were eating the food that was prepared. Aang of course was staying away from the meaty foods. Zuko was simply leaning on the wall near the doorway.
Lucy and Katara looked at them with huge surprise and shock. "Should you really be eating that!?" Lucy and Katara yelled.
"What if it is a trap!?" Katara stated.
"Who cares, if those guards were as weak as they were then we can handle anything this tower can throw at us." Toph said.
"Besides the enemy clearly already knows we are here." Gray said.
"We don't know that." Katara argued.
"Actually, Juvia thinks that the enemy is aware of our presence. Simply because the door that let us in could have been opened using someone else's magic. They probably left this food out her just to mess with us."
"Well it's not working. Plus its actually well prepared, it would be a shame to let it go to waste, my compliments to the chef." Aang said.
"Take this more seriously, Aang." Katara said in a non-serious tone while sweat dropping.
Toph walked to Lucy and Katara. "Well I've had my fill though, I can't say the same about those guys." She said referring to the others.
Virgo who was still summoned appeared behind the three girls. "Princess, is it wise for you and your friends to walk around like that?" She asked as the three girls were still in their swimming outfits.
"Well I-" Lucy began.
"Maybe I can help out with that." Virgo said while she moved to the three in a creepy manner while her eyes turned red and fingers were flickering continuously.
"I don't think that is-" Katara started.
"Hey get yer hands off me!" Toph yelled.
Soon everyone looked at the three girls and saw that they were in different clothing. Lucy was dressed in a dark green and white dress and her hair was tied back with a long dark green ribbon. Toph was in a dark green short-sleeved shirt that had black vest over it, she was wearing dark green baggy pants while her feet were left barefoot. She had an ankle bracelets made of steel, while her meteorite arm bracelet was on her left arm. Her hair was kept together with a green alice-band. Katara was dressed in a sleeveless blue and white accented shirt that had a water tribe look to them, with short white pants, the shoes she had previously worn were still on her feet, as well as blue bandages on both her wrists. She had two water skins on her back, crossing over each other; her hair was partly tied at the back but was mostly let down, her mother's necklace still tied around her neck.
"Hold on? N-new clothes? And how did she dress us so fast!?" Katara wondered out loud.
"I'm thinking you really don't want to know!" Toph exclaimed. "At least she didn't touch my feet so that's something."
"It wouldn't have been appropriate for them to walk around in their swimming wear, so I fashioned some clothes from the Celestial Spirit World for them."
"Well, that was really nice of you Virgo." The waterbender thanked. "These clothes aren't half bad."
"I don't look very girly do I?" Toph asked.
"Girly doesn't come to mind." Zuko said.
"Good enough then." She replied with a smirk while punching her fist into her hand.
"So what do you guys think?" Lucy asked.
"I think it kinda looks cute." Grey complimented.
"Juvia is so frustrated!" the water mage exclaimed.
Aang looked to Katara. "You look ama-" Aang stopped in mid-sentence as he didn't want Katara to think he was being weird. "I mean I like you hair!" he quickly said while blushing.
"Oh, well uh thanks… I think…?"
"You liiiike her." Virgo said only she had said it more matter-of-factly
"WHAT!?" Both Aang and Katara yelled.
"Virgo, since when have you and Happy been hanging out?" Natsu asked.
…
At the exact same time Happy sneezes at the mention of his name as he is still sitting on Millianna's couch while Momo is clinging onto him.
"Meanwhile I'm stuck here…" Happy said with endless tears going down his face.
…
"Hey, since we have new clothes. How are the rest of you going to wear your clothes now?" Katara asked
"Don't worry, our clothes will dry fast." Gray said as Sokka stood next to him.
"We've planned for that." Sokka added.
Natsu who was wearing his normal clothes was engulfed in flames; the others had their clothes on him. They all stood and watched their clothes dry up from Natsu's flames.
"Human drying machine!" Lucy exclaimed
"You gotta admit, it's the best way for our clothes to get dry." Sokka said.
"I would have walked around as I was, but this works too." Zuko said.
Once all the guys have their clothes on, they all hear the sound of more guards coming their way.
"I hear voices! It must be the intruders."
"Looks like we've got another battle on our hands." Sokka said, he unsheathed his sword while the others prepared to fight once they saw the guards in their view, however before they could do anything. They heard a battle cry that sounded all too familiar. Erza was seen slashing past the guards.
"Erza?!" Aang yelled.
Erza turned around with wide eyes. "You guys? What are you doing here!?" She demanded.
"We came to save you." Gray stated.
"You shouldn't be here! You must leave this tower immediately!" she ordered. "This is my battle not yours!"
"Forget this! I'm going off to save Happy!" Natsu yelled. He sprinted to a doorway in order to find Happy.
"Natsu wait!" Zuko yelled. "That guy's going to get himself killed. I'm going after him."
"Hey, just keep any eye on him, last thing we need is that idiot getting lost in here." Grey said.
"No! I will be the one who will bring Natsu, Happy and Momo home. The rest of you must leave this place!" Erza demanded
"These guys took you for a reason. I don't know what that reason was but you'd be safer staying with the others, leave finding Natsu to me." Zuko said
With that Zuko decided to chase after Natsu.
"The rest of you should leave right now!" Erza said sternly.
"We're not going anywhere." Gray defiantly said.
"We are as involved in this tower business as you are. We won't leave until all of us are together, and we'll be with you no matter what." Lucy added
"Erza, we are all part of this guild remember? If you're scared of something, then we'll always be there to support you." Aang added. They all saw Erza clench her fists, however when she looks up to face them, tears were seen as particles floating from her face. "E-Erza?"
"Fine." Erza said while she hid her face from the others to hide her tears. "I'll tell you guys everything. This tower is a huge magical item called the R-System, a cult long time ago was responsible for creating this monstrosity. They had used slaves to craft this tower, those slaves were additionally held and treated as prisoners. In the middle of all of this, I had made friends with one of the slaves, his name was Jellal."
Erza soon flashes back to after she had received her punishment for supposedly plotting the escape plan. She was flanked by two guards and was chained to a pillar. Jellal had managed to fight through a couple of guards in order to get to Erza. Once he did, he fought against the two guards that were by Erza. After he had defeated them, he unchained Erza and saw that her short scarlet hair was covering her right eye. Jellal had noticed her eye had been maimed. This caused him to scream out in frustration. When he helped Erza from the room, he gave her the suggestion that they should fight for their freedom. However the both were stopped by magic guards, however they had taken Jellal, and simply brought Erza back to her prison cell with her friends. Erza remembers Jellal's words of fighting back, she attacks the guards and tries to convince everyone to fight for their freedom.
Erza now looks to her guild mates after her flashback. "However the Jellal I knew a long time ago had turned into a completely different person, a person of pure evil." Erza said and a vision of Jellal as a child was seen, he was tied up and surrounded by a black energy, a very devilish smile was seen on his face.
----Natsu was running down a large hall dust was trailing from his feet. "Happy! Where are you!?" he called out.
"Natsu!" Zuko yelled, but Natsu wasn't able to hear him. Zuko sighed. "You're not going to make catching up easy are you?" Zuko stretched his arms backwards and he shot an orange fire stream from his palms, this made his feet slide across the floor and was able to propel himself after Natsu.
Happy and Momo were still inside the room, the former was panicking. "I can't believe they left us! And there is also that scary darkness wizard roaming around." As Happy was saying this Momo looked to be messing with a robot cat toy, he turned it on and its eyes glowed blue. Momo got startled and hid behind Happy. It approached the two and began saying things like Neko-neko and meow. "I am not going to be won over by this kiddy kitty merchandise, you know!" he said turning around from the robot. Soon its head separated from its body and was kept together with a spring, which swayed it from left to right.
Happy was soon following the robot in the hallway outside Millianna's room while Momo followed, not knowing what was going on. "Wait for me!" the cat exclaimed
…
Erza continued to explain the events that led to everyone's escape through the Tower of Heaven.
They were battling against all of the guards which they were beating with little trouble. Erza led the charge with the determination to save Jellal. Soon after they had defeated the guards in their area, Erza was about to lead the huge group to the area where Jellal was kept prisoner. Simon at the end of the first battle asks Erza if she likes him. Erza knowing exactly what she meant said that it wasn't the right time to be talking about that. Simon begins to tell her that he has something very important to say to her. However before he can tell her. They see an explosion take place in front of them. Out of the dust they see the Magic Regiment, which comprised of floating humanoid figures that looked more monstrous than human, they had the Tower of Heaven sigil on their face plates just like the guards. They each made a red magic circle appear in front of their mouths. From the ground, light glints were seen from them and on the ground a huge explosion was made.
Many of the slave decided to retreat with their lives as they were no match for forces who used magic. Erza pleaded everyone to keep fighting so they can help her save Jellal. Once everyone has retreated and only Erza is left standing in the cross hairs of the Magic Regiment. They unleashed their attack and Erza had braced herself. However before the attack could go off Rob was standing in front of her with his arms spread out wide. He told her that he was not going to let a life get wasted in this place. He continued to shield her from all the attacks, once this happened he reflected the fire attacks back at the Magic Regiment. He fell to his knees and his skin had slightly turned green. Even so he continued to shield Erza from all the attacks and tells her that Erza's magical potential is unlimited. Once he says this, Erza remembers about what Bob had told her about magic. Soon after Bob's body begins to crack and his barrier explodes, Erza sees the Fairy Tail emblem on Rob's back. He soon explodes into dust and all Erza sees are his shackles. In a fit of rage Erza lets out a huge scream and in doing so, she summoned a scarlet magical circle below her, all the metallic objects like pickaxes, shovels and swords had risen, they were thrown to all of the remaining guards in front of her, everyone was shocked an impressed that she could use magic.
Later Erza charges to place where Jellal was being kept. She swiftly defeats the two guards that were standing in front of her. She frees Jellal, who she tries to convince him to escape with her and the other prisoners after saying that she has found her freedom, however Jellal was already possessed by Zeref and he tells her that no real Freedom in the world exists and says the only way to obtain true freedom is to resurrect Zeref by constructing the R-System. In saying this he eliminates the two guards who were keeping watch over him which frightened Erza. When he asks Erza to help him with reconstructing the tower, she refuses which causes him to attack her. He tells her that she is free to leave, and Jellal will bring more workers to the tower. He then tells her that if she breaths a word of this to anyone, he will kill all of those who will be working in the tower.
Erza later woke up on a beach she looked up to the night sky, and she cried endlessly. In all of this a woman with medium long black hair and wearing red robes had seen Erza crying.
…
Erza finishes explaining her story with everyone around her either shocked at what had happened to her. "I will fight Jellal…" Erza says.
----Meanwhile at the Magical Council headquarters in Era, Siegrain continues to plead that the Council to use Etherion.
"Everyone! Allow us to Fire Etherion at the R-System from the Satellite Square!" he exclaimed while clenching his fist angrily.
"The R-System is a forbidden magic that must be permanently erased from all of history." Ultear added. "You understand what we have to do don't you?"
"And the firing of this, you will kill your younger twin brother, are you okay with that?" another council member asked.
"I have come to terms with that."
"We cannot allow this, it will go down that the Council had committed a crime by firing it in that region. When that happens the Council will cease to exist."
"The dead cannot be brought back to life, however the firing of Etherion will bring chaos to the world."
Another council member; Elder Beino had begun to speak. "We must put an end to this." she raised her hand. "I concur with firing Etherion." She said.
"We only need one more vote to fire Etherion!" Siegrain exclaimed.
...
Jellal in his throne room looked relaxed and had his head resting on his fist. "One more vote, then it is game over." he said to himself.
----After listening to Erza's story. Sokka had something on his mind. "Hey, Erza. I have a question for you." she turned her attention the him. "Who exactly is this Zeref guy? He has to be pretty powerful for that magical cult and Jellal to waste so much time trying to resurrect and all." Sokka asked.
"Wait a minute…" Lucy began. "Wasn't that Flute Lullaby a sort of creation of Zeref?" Lucy asked.
"A flute?" Katara asked not getting what Lucy was saying.
"Not just that, I have reason to suspect that Deliora was also one of Zeref's creations." Erza said.
"So, Zeref's power has only been seen in his creations?" Aang asked. Erza nodded to his question.
"Okay, but if what Erza is saying is true. Why would someone want to bring back someone so evil back from the dead?" Sokka asked.
"Not only that, how is it that Jellal managed to convince all of the workers, including Erza's friends to cooperate?" Katara wondered.
"It's pretty obvious don't cha think?" Toph began. "This Jellal guy must have lied to them, and probably found some way to get them to believe him as if his word is law or something like that. Same can be said for Red's former friends."
"Toph has a point, Jellal must have indoctrinated them, but I had left them for eight years. The truth is I really did betray them."
"Sister…" They all heard. They saw Sho standing in front of the archway from the hall.
"You!" Katara angrily grunted she formed a long water whip but Lucy outstretched her hand in front of the Waterbender.
"That story of yours! It can't be true!" He exclaimed. 
"In our escape, you blew up all of our escape ships and fled by yourself, Jellal stayed behind and told us that is what happens to those who don't learn their magic properly. You betrayed Jellal! You betrayed all of us!" Sho exclaimed.
"Did Jellal tell you all of this?" Gray asked.
"Listen to me very carefully, Sho. Everything he told you was a lie." Ryu stated. "He's the one who blew up all the escape ships." 
"Shut up! You know nothing about us!" Sho exclaimed and some tears could be seen in his eyes.
"It is true, Sho. Jellal was deceiving us." A voice said. A shadow appeared and Simon had appeared.
Gray got into a fighting stance. 
"You again!" Gray exclaimed.
"Wait Gray-sama." Juvia said. "Back at the casino, he attacked your ice clone on purpose. Anyone who is adept in Darkness Magic would have easily been able to tell the difference." Juvia explained. "Juvia wanted to come here to find out his true intentions."
"So you knew about my trick. Not surprising coming from someone who used to be in Phantom's Element 4."
"Simon…" Erza began.
"I knew Jellal was lying all along, I always believed you Erza, for eight long years." He said. Erza felt touched and she hugged Simon.
Sho meanwhile is kneeling on the floor while clutching his head. "Simon, you believe Erza… even though she betrayed you, but if she is right and what Jellal was telling us was wrong… what does that mean?" Tears begin to fall from his eyes. "DAMN!" He screamed. "I don't know who to believe anymore!" he exclaimed.
Erza then goes up to Sho and he hugs him. "I'm sorry Sho, for not being there for you all this time, but you should know. I have always thought of you, for all of these years." she said.
The rest of the group looked on at this. Toph decided to change the subject. "I know that a teary reunion is happening, but what now. That doesn't change our situation. What's the plan?" Toph said looking at Simon.
"I have planned for this, I have been waiting a long time for this moment." Simon said.
"Waiting for what?" Katara asked.
"Powerful wizards, all this time I have been waiting to find powerful wizards that can stop Jellal." Simon said.
"Yeah, we that would be us." Grey said planting his fist into his empty palm.
"Okay, now that you found us. What do we do now. Not only Jellal is involved in this, but those girls that are after me are also involved."
"About that… there is something you should know about Ping." Simon began.
"Let me guess, Jellal took care of her." Toph said folding her arms.
"Quite the opposite actually. Zeref and Jellal saw the hatred within Ping's heart, because of this Jellal had granted Ping the use of Darkness Magic." as soon as he said this. Aang, Lucy, Katara and Sokka were completely shocked at what they had just heard.
"She c-can use magic!?" Lucy asked.
"So the same thing that happened to Jellal must have happened to her." Aang figured. "She was tough to beat before, but now with magic…"
"We can't afford the deal with it now. At the moment we have to figure out what our next move is." Katara suggested.
"Well the first thing we need to make sure of is that Natsu and Wally don't clash." Simon said.
----Natsu was still running down the hall, he stopped when he saw Millianna's room. 
"Happy! Momo! You guys in here!" He yelled. "I guess they are not here." Natsu saw a huge cat helmet. "Oh that looks fun!" he put it over his head. "Haha! Let's go Happy!" Natsu exclaimed. "Aye Sir!" he said mimicking Happy's voice. "Or something like that." Natsu tried taking off the helmet, however it was stuck to his head. "Its stuck! Oh well at least it is fun, haha." Zuko stopped propelling himself with his flames and saw Natsu's state from outside the room.
"Unbelievable…" Zuko began.
"Oh, Zuko you made it. Can you help me out here?"
"Why do you have a cat helmet on your head!?"
"I was just having fun, you know."
"We didn't come to this place for fun Natsu!" however he stopped yelling when he sensed a presence close to them. He turned and saw the Wally in the archway while his arm was in its Polygon Rifle form.
"Dandy…" He said with a smirk.
"Who are you supposed to be?" The Firebender angrily asked.
"What? Who are you talking to?" Natsu asked.
Zuko was glaring at the mage. "If I can beat him. It will prove how far I have come, since my last Agni Kai with Azula. No matter what. I can't lose." Zuko thought as he got into a firebending stance.