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"Erza!" Lucy bolted straight up, blinking her grogginess out of her eyes.

"Is my dear Lucy-sama okay?"

Lucy turned and found Juvia staring at her with huge anime heart eyes.

"Juvia!?" Lucy quickly stood. "What are you...no...Erza!" Lucy swirled around to find her redhead friend. But she was no where to be found.

"I managed to save you before they could shoot you." Juvia said.

"Huh?" The blonde turned to the water mage for more information.

"You were inside Juvia, so you survived."

"...Inside...?" Lucy sweatdropped...that sounded wrong. Why did that sound so wrong?

"They took your friend by the way." Juvia added, thinking it wasn't so important.

Lucy clenched her fist. Erza had been taken back to the tower...and she had heard horrible stories about it from Erza. She had warned Lucy that there would be a chance that they may come back for her. It was only a matter of time.

"Let's find Gray and Natsu!" Lucy ran to where ever they could be.

"Juvia will follow!" Juvia cheered.

Lucy ran, and couple moments later, she found Gray walking shirtless, his back to us.

"Gray!" Lucy called out.

Gray turned when he heard his name, and saw Lucy approaching her. "Oi! Where's Natsu!?"

"I don't know. But Erza had been kidnapped."

Gray's eyes widened. "What?"

Then there was a loud familiar scream, which could only mean one thing: Natsu.

The three of them ran toward to the source of the scream and found an angry Natsu.

"Wh-What a jerk!" Natsu bellowed, smoke coming out of his mouth.

"Natsu!" Gray called out as they came closer to Natsu.

"What happened?" Lucy asked.

"Who shoots people in the mouth!? That hurts! It could really injure someone!" Natsu complained.

Gray, Lucy, and Juvia deflated in dumbstruck manner.

"Uhh...I think that'd leave normal people completely down for the count..." Gray muttered.

"I agree with the normal part..." Lucy crooned.

"That blocky bastard!" Natsu yelled with ticks on his forehead and started running out of the resort. "You're not getting away from me!"

"Let's go after them!" Gray said, running after Natsu.

"How? We don't even know where they are." Lucy said. Erza had told her stories about the tower, but she had never once told her where it was.

"Wild beasts have nothing on his sense of smell!" Gray smirked, can always count on Natsu for tracking.

"By the way, where's Happy?" Lucy had not seen the blue cat anywhere.

"Ah, I think they also have him." Juvia said, remembering a blue cat in one of the enemies' arm.

"Huh? Why would they want Happy for? He's basically useless...except for flying." Lucy murmured the last part.

"Then we have to save both Erza and Happy then." Gray said, running to the docks, where Natsu was already barfing from just looking at the floating boats on water.

...
30 minutes later...

"Where are we?" Lucy murmured, gazing out on the endless horizon of the sea,becoming more and more anxious.

"Are you sure this is the right way Natsu?" Gray asked, looking at a green Natsu.

Natsu only moaned in response.

"We're relying on your nose, you know! Pull yourself together!" Lucy yelled.

"How dare you betray the lovely Lucy's expectations!?" Juvia glared at Natsu.

"Damn! I can't believe we let them knock us out and snatch Erza and Happy. Talk about pathetic!" Gray cursed.

"It's hard to believe a wizard of Erza's level was defeated." Juvia said.

"Huh? They didn't beat her. Don't act like you know Erza!" Gray growled at Juvia.

"I'm sorry!" Juvia shrunk from Gray's tone.

"Gray! Calm down!" Lucy cried.

Gray scoffed and looked away in annoyance and Lucy sighed.

"They were old friends of Erza...that's why Erza didn't put much of a fight." Lucy murmured.

"Friends?" Gray repeated, looked at the blonde questioningly.

"Huh? What's that ominous feeling?" Natsu mumbled, ignoring his motion sickness and stood up, looking around.

Gray, Lucy, and Juvia started looking around, and found that there were dead birds and fish floating on the surface. The mages could also make out broken debris all over the place.

"What in the world...?" Gray murmured.

"The debris...It's a Fiore military ship!" Juvia observed, seeing the symbols of the Fiore military symbols ship painted onto the debris.

Lucy trembled. "I have a bad feeling about this." Lucy was getting goose bumps from just looking at the debris. They way that they were destroyed.

"Hey. Look." Natsu said, looking ahead with a serious look in his face.

The others followed his glaze and found a humongous tower...was it really a tower? It didn't look like a tower to be honest.

Lucy juddered. "Is that really the Tower of Heaven?" Was this really the place that Erza had spent her childhood at before Fairy Tail? Lucy could sense a lot of evil presence. Lucy hoped that Erza is okay.

"Water Dome!" Juvia called out, using her magic to create a dome of water that surrounded the boat. "We can make landfall using this as camouflage. "

"Good thinking Juvia!" Lucy praised. Infiltration should be easier with this.

Juvia squealed and glared at Gray. "I was praised, not you!"

Gray frowned and crossed his arms not caring at all. "What does that have to do with anything?"

...

Gray, Lucy, and Natsu stood at the bottom of the tower, hiding from the lookouts that were walking around. Juvia was nowhere to be found for some reason.

"They sure have a lot of lookouts." Gray murmured, peeking over the rock that hid him from the lookouts.

"Want to charge at them?" Natsu grinned, raising his fists. Feeling pumped up and energized now that they are on solid ground.

"No! They have Happy and Erza! We'll only put them in danger if we're not careful." Lucy cried. Truthfully, she's not worried about Erza since she can take care of herself. But Happy's a different case.

But she still doesn't want to take risks.

"The odds sure are stacked against us" Gray sighed, thinking of ways to get past them stealthily.

"I found an underwater passage into the basement." Juvia said, appearing from the surface of the water.

"Really? Way to go!" Gray grinned.

"Hmph!" Juvia scoffed. "It's about a ten-minute swim underwater."

"Oh, that's a piece of cake." Gray as a matter of fact, like it was no biggie.

"Yeah!' Natsu agreed.

"That's clearly out of the question!" Lucy exclaimed. These monsters! They are not normal!

"Please put these on, then. There's oxygen inside, so you can breathe underwater with them" Juvia said, present a dome of water, assumingly having oxygen inside of it.

"Oh..." Lucy gulped...hope she doesn't hyperventilate from the tight space.

"Man, you're awesome! Who are you, anyway?" Natsu frowned at the rain girl, noticing that he had never met her before.

Juvia deflated in a dumbstruck manner, realizing that Natsu can be an airhead on most cases.

10 minutes of swimming underwater, they found themselves in a big cave.

"So, we're underneath the tower now?' Gray looked around, taking in on how big the cave was.

"Where are Erza and Happy?" Natsu complained

"Intruders!" A voice called out.

"Uh, oh!" Gray cursed under his breath.

Then a crowd of guards suddenly piled in the cave, taking stance and preparing to fight. "Who the hell are you?!" The guard that found them first.

"Guess our only option is to fight!" Gray smirked, getting in his fighting stance.

"Yes." Juvia agreed.

"'Who the hell are you' you ask? You don't know a superior opponent when you see one?" Natsu said, activating his fire magic.

"What?"

"We're Fairy Tail, you idiot!" Natsu roared as he jumped toward the guard, raining hell upon them. Gray, Lucy and Juvia followed suit and started attacking them.

In Lucy's opinion, celestial spirits are a better choice if you don't like fighting. Lucy's not fond on fighting herself, but she wanted to help Erza and stop this tower. She can't afford to be a wimp forever.

"Swimsuits!"

"Thank you!"

The guards yelled, with hearts in their eyes. Seems like there aren't a lot of girls at this tower for the men to enjoy. Lucy was immediately disgusted.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" Lucy yelled, summoning her celestial spirit.

"You called, princess?" Virgo bowed to Lucy, ready for her punishment.

"A maid!"

"Get lost, swimsuit girl!"

The guards yelled, favoring the maid more.

"Punish them." Lucy pointed to the crowd of squealing guards, riding Virgo to take them out .

"As you wish." Virgo bowed again and began to ram them over, crushing them in the process.

5 minutes later, they were all easily wiped out.

"That takes care of most of them." Gray said, thinking how weak they were, wanting more of a challenge.

Lucy groaned, hoping that this won't make the situation worst for Erza or Happy...well, she could care less about Happy, but she's worried about Erza.

"Do I need to be punished?" Virgo said, bowing to Lucy.

"You're still here?" Lucy questioned uneasily. Before she could say anything, a ramp suddenly appeared from one of the statue that were wedged into the wall, making it way down to the ground to where the mages were.

"Huh?" Natsu muttered, looking at the ramp.

"Is their way of saying, 'Come up'?" Gray uttered.

Lucy have a bad feeling about this...if they had decided to let them in like this...is it a trap? She wondered what Erza was doing too.

After walking up the ramp, they found themselves in a room with a long table stuffed with various good looking food. Gray, Natsu and Juvia wasted no moment and started gulfing down the food.

Lucy stared at them with a blank expression, not liking how this all seems like a set up.

"This is wrong, something's not right." Lucy muttered softly to herself.

"Lucy-sama, are you going to eat?" Juvia extended a plate of food to Lucy.

"No I'll pass, and please drop the –sama..." Lucy said, still dumbfounded. Knowing Gray and Natsu, they will be full of energy, and will be unstoppable to defeat. The enemy must really be stupid. Unless they are so confident that they will win.

"That door earlier was operated remotely with magic. It appears they're completely aware of our presence." Virgo said, who had yet to return to the celestial world.

Lucy sighed when Virgo was still there. "Then why would they...are they trying to provoke us?" Lucy wondered if that was the case, letting them in, and presenting them with food, it would make sense.

"Incidentally, Princess. I believe it's appropriate to dress that way in the dining area." Virgo said, already creeping up on Lucy.

Almost in a flash, Lucy was in a new change of clothes.

"I pray for your success, Princess." Virgo bowed and disappeared to the celestial world.

Not another second, guards came running into the room with swords in their hands.

"There they are!"

"The Intruders!"

The mages were about to counteract when a familiar girl in armor cut through them, knocking them out in the process.

"Erza!"

"You're all right!?"

Erza turned to them and was speechless. She wasn't expecting them here...and why was Lucy here? She heard the stories from her, so she should be scared, so why is she here?

"Lucy...guys...why are you here?" Erza stuttered.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Gray tilted his head.

"Leave!" Erza shouted. She doesn't want them to be involved in this, especially Lucy.

"Don't give us that crap, Erza!" Natsu brought his fist together. "Running away after being ridiculed will only tarnish Fairy Tail's name! That blockhead has to pay!"

So Natsu wants a rematch? Lucy sighed. Figures, Natsu loves to fight.

"I'm telling you to leave!" Erza pressed on, trying to get them to leave.

"They have Happy! We can't just leave now!" Natsu complained.

"They have Happy? Must be Millianna..." Erza murmured.

"Where is this person!?" Natsu growled.

"I don't know." Erza confessed.

"All right! I got it!" Natsu declared.

"Got what?" Gray had a bad feeling about this.

"The fact that Happy's waiting for me!" Natsu said as he ran at his full speed out of the room.

"H-Hey! Natsu!" Erza yelled, but was in vain. Natsu was already gone.

"That moron!" Gray grinned downward.

"Let's go too!" Lucy want to help Erza with her problem.

"No!" Erza yelled, bring her sword to keep them from moving.

"Millianna is an incomparable cat lover. I can't imagine her harming Happy. I'll take responsibility for bringing them back. The rest of you to need to leave this place at once." Erza wants Lucy out of this place...she doesn't want to take any risks with her being here.

Lucy frowned, already knowing that she would try this card. She knew Erza was going to try and take this on herself. She's stubborn, she will try to get rid of the tower along with herself. Lucy doesn't want that to happen.

"Erza...your fight is also our fight. Don't fight alone." Lucy said with confidence. She was scared of this place, but if Erza had survived this place, so can she.

"This is my problem. Leave." Erza protested.

"It was my problem when my father had sent Phantom after me. But you and the others had still fought for my sake. The least I can do is fight for your sake."

"I don't wish to drag you into this." Erza turned around, so they won't see how weak she felt.

Lucy sighed. Erza's stubborn... "You once said that we were bound by fate of freedom because of our past. That we were not yet free because of it. I'm free now because my father is no longer going after me. And you can be free if you defeat this Jellal person."

"This is different."

"No, Erza! Those people may had been your friends. But we're your friends now. We will support you, no matter what."

"Leave!" Erza shouted.

"No!" Lucy will not leave Erza to fight her demons alone, nobody should be alone to fight their demons. "I know that you are still afraid of this place. But that's what friends are for. This is what you had taught me. Gray, Natsu, and I...even Juvia wants to help you. Don't shut us out!"

"Guys..." Erza's words trembled with the soft voice that followed.

"Erza...I want to help you to be free again. Rely on us for once." Lucy's voice was soft.

Erza turned around with a sole tear streaming down her left eye. "I'm sorry...I'm going to vanish from this world, whether I win or lose this battle."

"Huh?" Gray wasn't sure if he had heard her right.

Lucy knew it. Erza will attempt to sacrifice her life to destroy this tower.

"This is a future I can't fight...as such, I will tell you everything while I still exist." Erza uttered, smiling sadly at her friends, especially her blonde crush.

30 minutes of explaining her past to Gray and Juvia. Lucy already knows, so just stood there, recalling what had happened so far.

"I...will fight Jellal." Erza trembled. She will fight for Lucy, for her friends so they can live another day.

"But not alone." Lucy smiled. She will make sure that Erza will not try and sacrifice her life...

"Wh-What's with that's story, Sister?" Sho walked into the room, with a crazed look on his face, not wanting to believe the words Erza had just spoken.

"Sho..."

"That's full of lies! Jellal said that you were drunk with power and escaped on your own, leaving us behind! And that you wanted to cast out everything from your past, us included!" Sho rambled.

"Jellal said that?" Gray spoke.

"Would the Erza you know really have done something like that?" Lucy said, looking at Sho. "Can you even imagine how Erza felt, having to leave you behind?

"You don't know anything about us! What would you know!? Eight years...I followed Jellal, eight long years and you're saying it was all a lie?" Sho fell to his knees, to angry with himself, not sure what he shall do.

"That's right." A voice called out.

Sho appeared from the shadows in front of the mages, which made them tensed.

"Sho, Jellal had everyone fooled. I decided to play along until the time was right." Simon

"Simon, you were..." Erza eye's were wide, seeing that Simon had been on their side from the start.

"I always believed in you, Erza. For eight years straight." Simon smiled behind his mask.

Erza smiled, letting a lone tear fall down her cheek. She really missed her old friends.

"I'm happy to see you again, Erza. From the bottom of my heart." Simon brought Erza in for a hug.

"How?" Sho muttered. "How can everyone have so much faith in you? Why...why couldn't I believe in you, Sister? Damn it! What's real!? What should I believe in?"

Lucy wanted to say something to Sho...but she knows that Erza should be the one to comfort him.

"I realize it's difficult to accept everything all at once. But I will say this, over the past eight years, I never once forgot about any of you." Erza walked over and knelt in front of the crying Sho.

Sho hugged Erza desperately. He felt like he betrayed her. How can he fix that?

"I'm sorry I was so helpless. I'm sorry that I was weak." Erza muttered, while hugging Sho. She will fix this, end this nightmare and free her old friends.

"But now you can do something. Isn't that right?" Simon smiled.

Erza nodded. "I will fix this."