Chapter 17: Four Way Showdown

**With Erza**

She was running in the tower to find Jellal as she had escaped her prison by knocking out Sho was in guard duty of her.

"Where is Jellal?!" Erza turned around the corner where she saw guards coming after her.

"Capture the prisoner!"

"Get out of my way!"

Erza re equipped two daggers as she sliced her way through the guards.

She then continued her approach before she reached to a door as she opened it.

"Nyaaa!"

Milo came out of the door as the little feline jumped to her shoulders.

"Milo!" Erza exclaimed in surprise to the little cat as Milo was rubbing his head to her cheek.

"You escaped Milliana?" She asked Milo who nodded with a meow.

Erza smiled to the little feline.

"I need to find Jellal and end all of this."

Erza set down Milo to the floor and was about to go but was stopped as she saw Milo following her.

"Milo, I need you to go to the docks and wait for me, I will soon finish this and get back home with you." Erza told the little cat who shook his head in denial

"Nyaa!"

Milo meowed to Erza with a determined face.

She sighed before nodding.

"Just stay close to me, okay?" Erza told Milo who meowed and then jumped to her shoulders.

She then continued her search for Jellal.

**ocean**

Natsu and the gang were on their way to Erza as Gray, Lucy and Juvia are riding the Natsu express as they were speeding their way in the ocean.

"..I think we took a wrong turn." Natsu said while he looked up at the jagged, massive tower they hit land on.

"what do you guys think?" Natsu asked to others whose faces were pale as white sheet.

"What's wrong with you guys? You look like you seen a ghost." Natsu asked them.

"IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU!" They exclaimed at him

They then started rambling at Natsu who looked bored to their scolding as he didn't bother care of that.

After a few minutes of them calming down, they then looked at the tower in front of them.

"This place is givin' me the chills." Gray said as he was creeped out by the way it looked.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Lucy gulped.

"What should we do?" Lucy asked.

"Ain't it obvious? We search for Erza." Gray stated before they began walking forward.

"Let's split up. I'll head this way, you guys head down that corridor." Natsu said as he began ascending a flight of stairs.

"Shouldn't we stick together though?" Lucy asked him.

"I can move faster on my own. If you guys find Erza, things will start to take care of themselves." He then jumped up high and was heading down a hallway on his way in.

"I swear." Gray shook his head. "But he's right. He can take care of himself anyway. We should look for Erza somewhere else. This place is huge so we got a lot of ground to cover." Gray led the two. The two just stared at each other, but Lucy was getting creeped out by the blank look Juvia was giving her.

"Lets go..love rival." Juvia said in a monotone voice while in a dark negative aura that made Lucy shivers in fear for her safety

**Top tower**

A man in a hood was sitting on a chair in the dark. He had a confident smile as he just sat there, expectantly.

"Soon all will be finished. My lord Zeref will finally be revived." He said to himself.

"It seems we have some visitors." A foreshadowed figure of three said as the man looked towards a security lacrima screen.

"It would appear so. Very well. Stand at the ready. It's almost time for the main event."

"As you wish." A feminine voice said as she held her sword tightly. With that, the trio took off. Leaving the hooded man alone and narrowing his eyes at the lacrima showing Natsu.

"..That's.."

**With Natsu**

Natsu was walking up the stairs and was looking around for any sign that Erza would be there. He was walking down a hall way and stopped just to look at the architecture.

Looked weird. But this place has been giving him an ill feeling ever since they approached it.

He then made a sound of surprise remembering something Siegrain told him that one time he met him back a few years back

*"I'd stay away from Fairy Tail if I were you. Especially a woman by the name of Erza Scarlet"*

He then made a narrowed look.

"What does that snake have to do with Erza? Is he the one behind this? Quite a ballsy move even for him. I wonder if Ultear has anything to do with this too. Something doesn't smell right. And I have a feeling Erza might be able to tell me-..!?" He quickly hid when some guards came rushing out of another corridor.

"Prisoner escape! Alert the whole tower!"

"Well, at least she's here." He thought out loud.

"I spotted the intruder!"

"Great." Natsu scowled as a guard spotted him and was beginning to be surrounded. He looked around him and sized up his opponents.

This was going to be over in seconds.

"Surrender!" The guards shouted at Natsu who reequip his Gauntlet Sluggers.

"Stop shouting and come take a piece." Natsu said as he raised his hands up.

"Attack!" the guards charged at Natsu who stood there for a moment before disappearing and then re-appearing behind the crowd.

"All done" Natsu said as he walked away and then all of the guards instantly dropped like flies as they groaned.

"a new record" He said before walking down another hallway. He stopped suddenly and turned to big open room. As he went in and raised an eyebrow.

"What..is..this?" He sweat dropped at the amount of stuffed cats, that were lying about all over the place.

"Looks like someone has a cat fetish." Natsu said as he went in the room.

"Another dead end." He sighed. However, in a dark corner next to the outside window, Wally appeared with his gun readied.

"Good bye, Boy." He then shot a magic bullet at Natsu. Natsu whipped around and slashed the bullet in half as his eye had a red glint of focus in it.

"Wh-what!? He-he cut it in half?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Is that the best you got, Block head?" Natsu said as he raised his gauntlet sluggers up

"D-don't get confident Boy!" He then blasted an explosive shot at Natsu as he was hit and enveloped in smoke.

"Humph~! The moment you met me..your fate was-HUUUH!?" Wally was about to start saying something he seemed to have great pride in, but was surprised to see Natsu still in one piece.

"Phew, I don't like dust on my favorite vest you know" Natsu said as the attack completely unfazed him and he was dusting the dirt on his vest.

"H-how are you still alive, Boy!? That should have blown you to pieces!"

"Huh? That amount of power is not even close to my level." He narrowed his eye at him. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Wally is the name, and I'm a dandy friend of Erza!" He continued talking as he adjusted his hat.

"Oh? Then maybe you can tell me what's going on here."

"I can't do that Boy! I have to take you down! Milliana!" He shouted behind him and suddenly a weird fur, tube-like rope came spiraling towards Natsu as it snagged his wrist.

"Nya! I will take you down!" A young girl came in with cat-like facial features, as she looked to be the one who launched that weird rope.

"Milliana's ropes can prevent people from casting magic. With this, it's over now-"

"As if that would work, moron." He then comically, simply yanked on the rope and Milliana fell clumsily face first on the floor.

"Noooo! Millia, get up!" Wally exclaimed in distress.

"Nya~! That hurt! I feel really dizzy~!"

"Damn! I guess it's just up to m-Huh!?" He then froze when Natsu had his sword on his throat.

"I'm tired of these pointless games, so you better fess up what you know about Erza before you're-"

"Psych, Boy!" His body then came apart and knocked Natsu back a little as Natsu rubbed the back of his head.

"Ow! What the-?!"

"Now Millia!" He yelled as Milliana used another tube on him. She snagged his leg and yanked with all her might and made him fall flat on his back.

"Ouch! Would you two-!?"

"It's over, Boy!" Wally smirked as his body came back together. He readied his gun. He then fired a bunch of explosive shots at Natsu as the room was nearly wrecked. After the aftermath, Milliana suddenly screamed in horror.

"NYAA!~ The Kitty-cats!"

"Relax we got him this ti-"

"I'm pissed." Natsu glared back and suddenly his flames flared around him and burned off the rope, much to the two's surprise.

"What!? But you should have be-"

"Shut up."

Natsu then dashed towards Wally and slammed his fist into his head. Knocking him into a wall and injuring him severely.

"Wally!" Milliana shouted to her friend. She then looked back was horrified to see Natsu glaring and approaching her.

"Ny-wait..please!" She began to beg for her life.

She closed her eyes and expected to be killed, but she met blunt force from Natsu's finger flick on her forehead as Natsu made an annoyed look.

"Bad kitty." He simply said.

"Nyoooouuch~!" Milliana said as she felt the sharp pain dealt to her head.

"I'm only gonna ask this once you two." Natsu said as Wally slowly looked up weakly. "What do you two know about Erza?"

"Er..chan?" Milliana asked slowly.

"Erg..I guess no point in trying to resist now." Wally sighed in defeat as he sat back against the wall." You see...this place was once called..the Tower of Heaven.." Natsu then crossed his arms as he listened to his story.

Natsu had his eye widened after he listened to the tragic story of the children of the Tower of Heaven.

"..And..Er-chan left us alone after all those years." Millianna said sadly, as her "cat ears" dropped.

"8 years huh?" Natsu said as he scratched his chin.

"We..were promised to rule." Wally spoke up.

"Rule?" Natsu was curious.

"Nya. We'd take over everything, and all the kitty cats in the world!" Millianna had this weird image above her head as Wally and Natsu sweat dropped.

"Why rule? Why didn't you just come find Erza and try to make amends or somethin'? She's an important friend, isn't she?" Natsu asked the two.

"But-! She left us behind! We had no one to turn to, except Jellal!" Wally protested.

"And he kept you here for 8 years? Why the hell didn't you try to get away from the tower?" Natsu wondered.

"We needed to finish the tower, so we could live like..kings." Wally said as he looked out the window.

"Greetings everybody." A voice was coming through the entire tower as Natsu and the other two looked up at the voice.

"Jellal-!" Wally exclaimed.

"I would like to welcome you all to the tower. And I would like to get the main event started since you all took the trouble of coming all the way out here."

"Event?" Natsu thought out loud

"I would like you all to play a little game of life and death with me. The Paradise Game. My plan is to use Erza Scarlet as a sacrifice to resurrect the one, and only darkest mage in all of history. Zeref."

"Resurrect..?" Wally didn't understand what Jellal was talking about.

Natsu squinted his eyes as he knew the name.

"But since there is 5 of you and only one of me, I thought I would level the playing field. As such, you will all have to face my 3 warriors, Trinity Raven. The rules are rather simple, beat Trinity Raven to get to me, and to stop me from using Erza as a sacrifice."

"Oh and as an extra little twist, the council will be targeting this tower with their most destructive weapon..the Etherion!" Natsu then gasped. "You all can try to make it up here, but it's useless! Everyone will die! Let the games begin!"

"it all makes sense now." Natsu said as he looks at Wally and Milliana

"He wanted you to stay and finish building the tower to resurrect the world's most evil black wizard, Zeref. And we played right into his hands." Natsu then looks to the window in the cat room

"Hey cat girl." Natsu called out to Milliana.

"Nya?" Milliana looked to him.

"Where's Milo?" He asked to her while sticking his head outside the window.

"Milo?" Milliana asked back with a confused face.

"The little Vul Cat you guys took with you." Natsu said as Milliana realized who he meant.

"Oh! the little kitty cat!" Milliana said as her ears popped up.

"He's with Erza, I think?" She said to him.

"Good" Natsu said as he then walks out of the room.

"Leave this tower before Etherion is fired" Natsu said as he walked through the hallway again.

"What?! We want to h-" Wally and Milliana exclaimed but were stopped as Natsu breaks the wall beside him with a tap of his finger.

"you were saying?" Natsu asked them with a smile.

"Nothing!" Wally and Millianna screamed as they run away.

Natsu sighed as he then did a jolt to the top of the tower.

As he ran down a hallway he came through earlier, he heard some rumbling ahead. He stopped and was in a room full of large bird cages.

All of a sudden,

**BOOM!**

A large person burst through a wall and landed with his magic jet pack on top of one of the cages.

"I am Fukuro, the warrior of justice has arri-"

"Get out of my way!" Natsu summoned his Sluggers as he threw them at the flying bird man who barely dodged it as Natsu catches them back

"That was not nice! I didn't even introduce myself yet!" He protested with a hoo.

"When I said get out of my way! Get out of my way!" Natsu said as he threw his sluggers back at him, but Fukuro blasted upwards to dodge him.

"I am Fukuro! And I shall cast judgment on you!"

"Missile Ho Ho Hou!"

He landed in front of Natsu and bent forth, as he sent his rocket pack at Natsu.

Natsu just punched the rockets as they exploded in front of him.

"Hoo noooo~! Fukuro's rocket pack-"

"Take a hike!" Natsu equipped his Dragonic gauntlet as a flaming sphere formed in the mouth of the dragon.

"**Karyuu no Kiba!"**

Natsu fired a flaming dragon head at Fukuro who got engulfed in it before he then falls down the tower.

"HOOOOooooooo~!" Fukuro hooted as he falls and Natsu looks at him before hearing a big bang down below.

"looks like I made an overcooked chicken." Natsu said as he clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Okay, where was I?" Natsu said as he ran towards the stairs. His hearing then picked up what he thought was Erza's voice.

**With Erza**

"JELLLLAAAALLLL!" Sho shouted angrily as he ran down another hallway.

He was holding onto a card that had Erza trapped in it as she kept hitting the screen on it to get out, but with no luck. After Sho found out about the truth of Erza'a true intentions, and Jellal's plan, he took it upon himself to protect Erza, and defeat Jellal, despite Erza's protests.

"Sho! You have to let me out of here!" Erza shouted.

"Nyaaa!" Milow meowed while following Sho.

"Damn it! I'll stop Jellal even if it kills me! And don't worry Nee-san! I'll keep you safe this time!" He stated as he ran down the hallway, ignoring Erza's plea to stop and let her out.

"Sho!" Erza shouted once more.

"What the..?" Sho then came to a stop as he readied his cards. A person blocking his path was approaching him, as she walked slow and gracefully down a wooden floor. She wore quite a loose kimono, and had a very long sword in her hands that was partially concealed by her large sleeves. Her hair was long and pink and her face was what Sho called.

" Who's this broad!?" He wondered.

"Ara, quite an unrefined young man. I am named Ikaruga. Who are you?" She asked calmly as Sho was sweating and was about to charge through.

"I don't have business with you woman! Outta my way!" He threw his cards through a magic circle and they were heading straight for her. She then got into a stance and faster than the blink of an eye, she looked like she sliced the cards clean in half.

Sho was shocked at the precision she used to slice his cards. "I..impossible." Sho was shocked beyond belief that his mouth was wide open.

"There is nothing which I cannot cut." Ikaruga said as she recomposed herself.

"What are you some street performer!?" He was getting ready to throw more cards, but the ground was suddenly cut. His cards in his hands disappeared, and his body went limp as he slowly fell to the ground. "Wh-my body..I can't-"

"I severed your nerves without cutting your flesh or clothes. That is the essence of Mugetsuryu." She explained as Sho remained paralyzed.

"Huh?" Ikaruga then notice Milo bellow her as the little feline meowed to Ikaruga with a smile.

"Oya? If it is not Milo-han? Look at how much you've grown!" Ikaruga said with a smile as she picked up the little feline and petted him.

"Sho! Are you alright?!"

"Ahh, that is where you are hiding Miss Erza?" Ikaruga exclaimed with slight surprise as she looked at a card on the floor.

"Sho, let me out! She's not an opponent you can defeat! That sword she's using isn't normal!" Erza shouted.

"Don't worry...That card is protected. There is no way anything from the outside could harm you..." Sho assured Erza.

"Oh? That sounds like a challenge." Ikaruga said as she let Milo sit on her shoulder before she got into another stance as she smiled and focused on the card.

She then quickly slashed faster than any normal person could see and sheathed her blade as Sho just smiled.

"See? You're prote-!?" He then noticed Erza blocked a slash from INSIDE the card, leaving him even more shocked. "She cut through the spatial divide?"

"I do not like to be underestimated. But I do praise that you are not yet unconscious." Ikaruga smiled sweetly as Sho just scowled.

"Sho! Let me out!" Erza continued hitting her fists against the screen.

"Now then, would you please kindly remove the spell on the card?" Ikaruga said as she petted Milo's head on her shoulder.

"N-n-never!" Sho retorted to her

"I was not asking you, boy." Ikaruga said as she looks to someone approaching them.

"Him." Ikaruga said as Natsu appeared.

"Natsu!" Erza exclaimed while in the card.

"it has been long since we last met, Natsu-han." Ikaruga said with a smile to Natsu.

"Nice to see you again too, Neechan." Natsu greeted her sarcastically before kneeling beside the card as he tapped it a little.

The card then glowed before it flashes and Erza was free.

"Nee-san.." Sho was surprised this random pink haired person just broke Erza out of the card.

"What are you doing here? How did you-"

"You have a very peculiar scent." He turned and faced her as he tapped his nose with a smile.

"You found me..by my scent?" She was surprised he could smell her all the way from the casino.

"Yep." He then turned and face Ikaruga as the two narrow their eyes at each other.

"neechan? do you know her?" Erza asked Natsu as she saw how Natsu called her.

Natsu replied by sheepishly rubbing the back of his head

"you could say that I started calling her that when I was training at the same dojo as her, and she was my senpai back then" Natsu said to her while scratching his cheek as Erza gawked at him

"Then why is Milo so close to her?" Erza asked to him as she saw how Milo likes cuddling to Ikaruga more than to herself.

"She's Milo's Mama when we found Milo together that day." Natsu replied.

"It is quite cruel of you, Natsu-han." Ikaruga said as she faked cried to him.

"You took Milo-han away from me." Ikaruga holds Milo to her chest.

"Really, neechan?" Natsu said to her.

"Again with the Crocodile tears?" He asked her.

Ikaruga stick out her tongue like a kid to him before letting Milo down to the floor.

Natsu then went into a staring contest at Ikaruga whose eyes went hostile all of the sudden.

"Erza, I'll handle this." He said as he held his sword to his side with one hand.

"Are you sure?"

"It's ok. I can read her moves like an open book." He had his eye halfway open and had an amused smirk as Ikaruga's eyes suddenly became more hostile as she kept smiling.

"Ara? Looks like my little Natsu-han wants to be a big man."

"We can walk away with our lives, neechan. It's your choice." Natsu suggested to her

"Oh? How kind of you." Ikaruga replied to him before pulling her sword from its sheath "but no"

"Sho, I want you to go find our friends, and everyone from Fairy Tail and tell them to leave the tower this instant." Erza ordered Sho.

"What!? But Nee-san! You saw her moves, she's a monster!" Sho protested.

"Don't worry pal. So am I." Natsu said as the pressure around him thickened.

"Nee-san!"

"Sho, will you do this for your sister?" Erza asked sweetly.

"..Hai..Nee-san." He said as he got up and started running back to find the others and hopefully get away before the entire tower was blown to kingdom come.

"It seems you do not understand. No one goes past me." Ikaruga said as she readied her sword.

"I'll be the judge of that." Natsu slowly reached for his sword handle.

"Let us see the fruits of your labor, Natsu-han." She said as she sheathed her sword and got into a drawing position.

Natsu tilted his head to the side as a wooden pole behind him got cut in half.

"Hoh?" Ikaruga was intrigued. Natsu just simply moved his head back in place.

"He was able to tell where the slash was coming from..and at that speed." Erza noted as she watched the attack.

"I have instructions to bring miss Erza with me to lord Jellal, Natsu-han."

"If you be good, Oneechan will give you some of her reward when everything is over." Ikaruga said with a smile.

Natsu sighed as he looks at her.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Oneechan." Natsu said to her while summoning Enryuo no Kiba to his side.

"I got a psychopath to stop." Natsu readied Enryuo no Kiba towards Ikaruga

"That's too bad" Ikaruga said with a sad smile as she holds her sword's hilt and draw it fast as Erza's armor suddenly shatters to pieces.

"What!? Erza exclaimed in surprise.

"My, my, did you perhaps not see it?" Ikaruga asked her.

"You alright?" Natsu asked Erza.

"I'm fine..I was just caught off guard." Erza gripped her shoulder as she stood back up.

"Are you so focused on finding Jellal so much, that you cannot see the flashes of swords around you?" Ikaruga asked Erza.

Erza's look darkened. "Ah yes, those are the eyes."

"Erza." Natsu said as she turned to him.

"I talked with Wally and Millianna about your past." He was scratching his head as he closed his eye.

"That's.." Erza frowned a little.

"I don't know why you did what you did, but knowing you, you probably did it for a reason, right?"

"I..didn't abandon them." Erza gripped her shoulder tight.

"..That's all I needed to hear." Natsu then smirked. He drew his sword at lightning speed as Ikaruga took a step back. The ground in front of her was slashed to pieces as her eyes widened.

"Go, Erza. I'll be the one to stop her." Natsu said as he looks at Ikaruga while readying his sword

"You copied..her attack?" Erza asked hesitantly.

"Not quite." Natsu said as he lowered his sword. "That was supposed to have at least cut her. But I guess it wasn't far enough." He made a slight scowling noise as he sheathed his sword again. "I still got a lot of ways to go."

"Natsu-han has become quite the naughty boy ever since he left home." Ikaruga said as she readied her sword.

"Go Erza." Natsu said as he dashed towards Ikaruga and got into a standoff with her.

"Are you sure? I don't think we have much time left."

"Don't worry. We'll get all our friends out of this place before the Etherion hits. Just go stop Jellal. I'll take care of her." He smiled as Erza just blinked and hesitantly ran.

"Good luck..Natsu. Be sure to get out of here when you are done..I don't want to lose anyone else to this tower." She then ran ahead.

"You got it." Natsu said with a grin as he focused to Ikaruga.

"Looks like Natsu-han needs some spanking." Ikaruga said as both of them jumped away from each other

"it is a sister's duty to punish her naughty little brother." she then raised up her sword as Natsu did the same

"And it's a sister's duty to support her little brother's decision." Natsu said as both swings their swords and created a flaming slash at each other that collided and created a little explosion.

They then dashed at each other again and did a close sword fight with each other.

"You know that I excel more in sword than you, Natsu-han." Ikaruga said to Natsu who was trying to keep up with her swordplay.

"Yeah!…I know!" Natsu said as he then skidded back from a blocked slash from Ikaruga.

"Come at me then, Natsu-han" She said as she readied her sword.

Natsu then held the sword to one side of him as he slowly said.

***"*Metsuryu Ougi…*"*** As time slowed down, Natsu was drawing his blade at the same time Ikaruga was. It was a decisive slash as the two passed each other.

Natsu whipped his sword and sheathed it. Ikaruga was wide eyed as her sword shatters into pieces.

"**Guren Sai Giri**"

"Impressive.." Ikaruga turned and looked at Natsu who was looking at her.

"I never thought I would see the day where you would surpass me. Natsu-han." She said as she smiled.

"I'm still quite the novice with my sword compared to you, Oneechan." Natsu stated as Ikaruga giggled to him softly.

"Looks like you won against me for the first time, Natsu-han." Ikaruga said as she picked up her scabbard.

"Thank you for understanding, Oneechan." Natsu said as he looks to her and was about to walk towards her but accidently stepped on a broken wooden floor as he falls on top of her.

**THUD!**

"Ow." Natsu stand up and saw that he was on top of Ikaruga.

"You really have become a naughty boy, haven't you?" Ikaruga said with a blush as Natsu saw that his right hand was groping her breast,

He quickly sat up and kneeled on his legs as if he was controlled by pure fear.

Ikaruga stands up and looks to him.

"Very naughty~" Ikaruga said as she flicks his forehead like a kid.

"I shall see you again, Natsu-han" Ikaruga said as she adjusts her kimono and then picked up Milo.

"The light of justice will rain down from the heavens and kill everyone. Hmph. That poem is dreadful. Don't you think so, Milo-han?" Ikaruga said to Milo in her arms.

"Nyaaa!" Milo meowed.

After they were gone, Natsu breath out a relieved sigh as he looks to be afraid of her.

"Man, she is still as scary as back then." Natsu muttered out in fear as he stands up before wincing while clutching his side.

"And never likes to holds back when we sparred each other" Natsu said as he leaned down a bit to rest.

"Are all the women I met this scary?" Natsu said before he decided to rest a bit.

**With Jellal**

"Well that was rather interesting." Jellal said as he watched the screen after Natsu's fight. "It would appear that all three members have been defeated by Fairy Tail. Doesn't that make you happy, Erza?" Jellal smirked as he turned to Erza who was glaring at him.

"Jellal, what is your aim in this? The Etherion is going to annihilate everything here, so why are you still here?" She re-quipped into just red pants with a flame pattern, and wrappings around her bust as she held a katana in her hand.

"Everything is for Zeref, Erza. And I must say, given the circumstances, I am happy to see you." He smiled, but it was riddled with mischief.

"How could you Jellal?" She began to say. "How could you lie and mislead our friends for 8 years?..After everyone that was sacrificed..and the hardships..DID ALL THAT REALLY MEAN NOTHING TO YOU!?" She charged with her sword and began attacking him. He grabbed her hand and then threw her away.

"Does it really anger you? Did you not forget that you were the one who left them here?" He smirked as he held his hand up and sent a blast of dark magic at Erza. It missed, and from outside it looked like a large explosion. Jellal smirked as Erza emerged from the smoke and started slashing at him again.

"I wasn't left with much choice! I was weak back then...but the bonds that I have made at Fairy Tail...THEY'VE MADE ME STRONGER!" She then charged and was going to hit him but he simply jumped out of the way. He then raised his hand and arms of dark energy came up from the ground and grabbed Erza.

"Still the same as always. How could you do this Erza? You've come this far, haven't you? You haven't changed at all. You have grown more beautiful though." He laughed. He then commanded the arms holding her to throw her against a wall as she grunted.

"It true...I was afraid. I needed protection from everyone..Grandpa Rob..you..and master. I always was afraid if my heart opened up again to someone, I would have been hurt. I made sure to put a layer of Armor between me and other people because I felt safer that way. But I realize now.." She then readied her sword. "..Its that same armor that kept me from my friends. So I will go forth with the strength that everyone gave me..And STOP YOU!" She then rushed him at a faster speed he wasn't ready for as his eyes widened.

*"No way! Is this really the same Erza?!"* She tackled him and held him down as she pointed her sword at his throat as she glared coldly at him. "Hmph..well done." He chuckled.

"What is your plan? The Etherion is going to hit any minute now. Everyone is evacuating, but you're still here! If you were really looking to revive Zeref, you would need massive amounts of magic to accomplish this. Explain!" She demanded.

"What can I say? I messed up. And for that I have to pay the price." He simply smiled as Erza was confused. "It is true, not all the magic on the continent would be enough to resurrect Zeref. I thought maybe a sacrifice would be sufficient. But you are right..It appears I have lost. I'm just broken and blindly following what I was told."

"You.." Erza wanted to say something.

"Can I at least die in the arms of the person I love?" He requested. "Everyone is gone. It's just the two of us left. It would make more sense if we were to finish this in a happy way..do you not agree?"

".." Erza was silent.

"And here it comes." All of a sudden, a beam of light appeared from above and Erza dropped her sword. She then lifted Jellal up and the two embraced each other.

But at the last moment Jellal grinned evilly.

**FLASH!**