A/N: This is the chapter where I really changed the story. I killed a character and replaced that character with a new character. Again, I wanna thank my friend @TimeLady_20 for drafting this part. I really liked this better than the previous version, and I hope you do too.

Please enjoy :)

She tried to convince herself that there was no way that Jellal survived. There was just no way for it to be possible.

Erza ran and ran past the barren trees, and soon found herself at the base of where Nirvana stood. Wind howled more fiercely the closer she got. The wind violently lashed at the girl as she pushed through. Some effort later, Erza managed to get through the wind barrier and her worst nightmare was confirmed.

A familiar man stood in front of her, back to her. Emotion of lost feelings and betrayal bubbled to the surface.

Erza clenched her teeth. How was this man still alive? She summoned a sword into her hand, and sauntered forward, intent on getting some answers from this man.

As she neared the man, the figure finally took notice of the girl, and turned his head to the side and peek at the new intruder.

Erza stopped in her tracks and prepared herself. She glanced at the eyes of the man in front of her, and noted how cold and calculating they were. "You got a lot to answer for, Jellal."

"Jellal?" The man responded. "He's here?"

"Your tricks wont work this time. Now stop whatever you're doing."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. The only way to destroy this weapon is to activate it, then destroy it." The man spoke, before turning to face Erza completely. "If you're here to stop me, then I'll have to treat you with hostility. Your choice."

"What are you talking about? In fact, how are you even alive!? That blast should've killed you!"

"Blast? Killed?" The man mumbled to himself, as if he was in deep thought. He touched his face, realization suddenly hit him. "I see. The resemblance is very uncanny isn't it?"

"Huh?"

The man, who looked so much like the Jellal that haunted Erza, turned back to the source of the light. "We'll resume our conservation later. But this monstrosity must be destroyed."

Erza frowned, and looked down at the sword she held. She asked herself what she should do. None of this made sense. This man made no sense.

"Well then, this is interesting." A voice boomed, alerting both Erza and the man.

Erza immediately recognized the voice, and turned her head to see Cobra near the entrance.

"Everything makes sense now." Cobra smirked, as if he won. "You two were definitely two peas in a pod. But you, you had what we all hated."

Confused, Erza looked at Cobra, then turned to the man who looked zo much like Jellal.

The man glared at Cobra, with looks that could kill. "Your mistake is that you didn't kill me when you had the chance."

"Our mistake was trusting in Jellal to let him take care of you personally. Who knew that he would lock you up in that tower."

Wait What? Erza grew more confused as they talked. "this another one of your tricks!?"

"Erik." The man said, ignoring Erza's question, and stared at the dragon slayer.

Hearing his real name, Cobra scowled. "My name is Cobra, you bastard."

"I will put a stop to whatever your plans are, Erik. I will make sure that no one gets access to Nirvana. I set a self-destruction magic circle in place, and will self-destruct in several minutes."

As if on cue, a purple magic circle appeared behind him. "Nirvana will annihilate itself, and it will no longer be misused by you miscreants."

The mysterious man stood tall, with determination in his eyes. A personal mission that he will not let anyone get in his way to achieve it.

...

The only reason Lucy was able to win against Angel was with the help of Hibikis archive magic. She gained the knowledge to summon a powerful celestial magic that could rival the celestial kings.

The downside of using this magic for the first time? It depleted all of her remaining magic. She became fatigued and momentarily fainted.

When she opened her eyes, her body screamed at her in pain. Lucy slowly sat up, and realized that she was in a different attire.

The new clothing felt like it was made of cotton. "What's with these clothes...?"

"They are items from the spirit world, as yours were quite in tatters." A voce appeared, responding to Lucy's previous question.

The blonde turned, finding one of her spirits standing behind her. Virgo!?

"I also gave Natsu-sama, Wendy-sama, and Hibiki-sama a matching outfit." Virgo gestured to mages who was still out.

They all were laying against a tree, wearing similar attire with Lucy's clothes. Something was nagging at Lucy that something bad was going to happen. However, Happy was nowhere to be found..

But still, why even bother changing their clothes as well?

"Jellal!" Natsu screamed as he bolted straight, as if he was having a nightmare.

Lucy jumped at the sudden outburst, and clutched her chest to calm her beating heart. Damn dragonslayer.

"Where's that light!?" Natsu screamed again.

The fire dragon's ruckus woke up the little dragon slayer from her quick slumber. "Where are we?"

"Wendy! Are you okay?" Lucy knelt in front of the little girl.

Wendy nodded. "What about that woman?" She wondered, not seeing the other woman anywhere.

"Angel? Don't worry. I already took care of her." Lucy smiled reassuringly.

"It was impressive that you could use that spell. Not everyone could do it."

Lucy turned to see that it was Hibiki that was praising her.

"Look!" Wendy shouted suddenly, pointed to where nirvana was. Everybody turned to where she was pointing at.

"It's close. When did the color change?" Lucy questioned

"Yes. While you guys were unconscious, it changed from black to white." Virgo replied with a dead-panned look, as it was obvious.

"Where's Happy?" Natsu asked before he looked around.

"Natsu!" Happy cried upon hearing his name.

Natsu followed the voice and found him hanging upside down from a branch. "Happy. Why are you up there?"

"The maid hung me here!" Happy cried, and struggled to free himself, but he was too weak to do so.

"Happy! H-Hold on! I'll get you down." Wendy said worriedly.

Lucy sweatdropped when she heard the word maid, and turned to her spirit with a suspicious look. She wondered why she would tie Happy upside down on a branch.

Virgo then bowed, "Princess, I will now take my leave., she then hastily disappeared in a puff of golden light.

Lucy didn't even get a chance to question her spirit. Sneaky little devils. She turned to see that Natsu didn't seem to care that Happy was tied up. So, there's no point in thinking too much.

Then at that moment, the intensity of the light began to grow, grabbing the attention of the mages. "I have a bad feeling about this." Lucy mumbled to herself as she watched the pillar of light grow bigger and bigger.

"I've never smelled anything as dangerous as this!" Natsu commented as he stared at the light.

The ground started to shake, equivalent to that of an earthquake. But this seemed much more ruthless and dangerous. Enormous stones rose from the ground in the most theatric way. Soon, they all realized that it was a gigantic spider with six legs.

"Please don't tell me that's nirvana..." Lucy whimpered. The spider stone already looked intimidating and creepy with the light shooting out of it.

"What should we do?" Wendy asked.

"If that's nirvana, then we need to infiltrate it." Lucy mumbled.

Erza then appeared through the bushes, looking annoyed and tired. Lucy was the first to run to her with a smile on her face. "Erza!" She wrapped her arms around the taller girl, happy to see that she was not hurt, or worse.

"Hey Lucy." Erza smiled, returning the hug. "You alright?

Lucy nodded. "I'm fine, Erza."

Erza smiled and looked around to make sure that the others were okay as well. But her smile soon faltered as she realized something. Something that shouldn't be allowed. Just the thought of that clicked something within her mind. Something truly sinister.

"Lucy...why are they copying you?" Erza lowered her tone to a murderous tone, glaring at the mages behind the blonde.

"Huh?"

"Why do they have matching outfits when I don't?"

Lucy paled. Of course this would happen. What was she expecting? Rainbows and tea?

The redhead turned to Natsu as she summoned one of her sharpest swords. "Natsu! Was it you!?" Natsu has been the cause of a problem 95% of the time, so it must be him.

Lucy was honestly terrified. She didn't know if it was the fact that there was some sort of shadow creeping into the girl. Or that she was about to murder Natsu. Whatever the case, Erza looks more terrifying than the walking Nirvana.

"E-E-E-Erza....I-I-I don't k-k-know what you are t-t-talking about!" Natsu stuttered, all blood drained from his face, as he tried to withstand the intense bloodlust from the knight mage.

However, Natsu isn't the only one to receive Erza's bloodlust. Hibiki couldn't even move a muscle when the girl turned to him. "Hibiki. If I find out that you had hit on my girlfriend, I will kill you! No...I should! You defiled my Lucy!"

Lucy couldn't just stand there and let this happen. As much as the girl terrifies her, the thought of her friends dying terrifies her even more. So, she threw herself at her girlfriend, and hugged her tightly from behind, and hoped that it would be enough to console the girl and stop her in the process. "Erza! Stop!"

"They must be killed! They will be the reason you died!" Erza yelled, swinging her sword, trying to cut down Natsu and Hibiki.

Both Natsu and Hibiki hid behind a tree, seeking shelter from the raging maniac that seemed to have been possessed by Nirvana. It was clear that Lucy isn't strong enough to stop the girl, and it was evident that Erza still has the consciousness to not hurt the blonde.

"Erza! Don't kill them!"

"If I don't, then they will hurt you in the future!" Erza shouted angrily. "Plus they are copying you!"

"Dammit Erza! Stop! It was my spirit that gave them the clothes. Don't blame them!" Lucy protested, getting in front of Erza and putting her hands on Erza's armored chest to anchor herself to stop Erza from moving. Lucy swore that she hears a squeal from the redhead, but was replaced by a scowl. It was hard to tell.

"I found you, Fairy Tail wizards." An ominous familiar voice was heard, and Erza stopped and turned to the source of the voice.

"Sherry!" Lucy cried with a smile, glad to see a familiar face, but soon faltered when Sherry began to shake with a smirk. She then used her manipulative magic to attack Lucy and the others.

Before Sherry even got the chance to hit Lucy with her magic, Erza slashed it to shreds with an angry look.

"Not only people are copying Lucy. But also trying to hurt her...I won't allow it. I won't forgive anyone!" Erza summoned 50 more swords, and aimed it at Sherry.

Sherry wasn't fazed at all as she faced the wrath of Titania.. "Fairy Tail must pay." She whispered to herself as a mantra, matching her bloodlust with Erza's.

Both Erza and Sherry lunged at each other, intent on murdering each other. Neither woman knows no bounds when it comes to fighting without remorse.

Before anymore damage could be done to either woman, Sherry was then frozen in ice, leaving her head bare.

"Got ya!" Gray cheered as he jumped into the scene. He walked closer to the other mages, not even registering the evilness of Erza.

"Let me go! Damn you! You're still alive!? I'm getting revenge for Lyon-sama!" Sherry yelled, struggling to break free, glaring at Gray. It seems like Sherry hates Gray more than she hates Lucy or Erza.

"Gray!" Natsu yelled, still hiding behind the tree with Hibiki, never been so happy to see his rival. "Be careful. Erza is crazy!" He warned.

Gray turned to Erza upon hearing Natsu's warning and wondered how exactly Erza was being crazy. But then he noted the cold eyes piercing into his soul, and with looks that could kill. Gray gulped as he stepped back, cowering away from the girl. Just what did Gray step into?

Erza stared at Gray with narrowed eyes, faintly recalling the words of the imposter; that he still has a thing for her girlfriend. He'll definitely be added to the list to be eliminated. But Sherry must go first.

"Gray, what happened to Sherry?" Lucy asked, nervousness occupying her tone as she wondered what will happen to the situation she's in. And right now she was terrified of Erza.

"She's been acting all weird after that light appeared." Gray explained as he looked at a screaming Sherry.

"I won't forgive you! Revenge for Lyon-sama!" Sherry rambled, thrashing around, trying to break free.

"Revenge for who exactly?" A voice called out within the forest.

Everybody turned to see Lyon walking out of the shadows, quite beat up. "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

"Lyon-sama?" Sherry looked to where Lyon was, immediately relieved.

Lucy watched as Sherry fell unconscious with tears in her eyes, and black shadows creeping out of her body. Guess Sherry's safe, Lucy thought.

"Just because the girl was possessed doesn't mean I'll forgive her." Erza boomed, pointed her 50 swords at each of the mages, except for Wendy and Lucy.

"Erza Stop!" Lucy yelled again as she stepped in front of the mage and embraced, hoping to contain her.

"They must be stopped, or it'll be too late!" Erza shouted, manipulating her swords closer to the mages. The mages could only do one thing, and that was to hide behind a tree and hope for a miracle.

This was going nowhere, and Lucy knew it. She needed to think fast and quickly. Without any other alternatives, Lucy grabbed Ezra's cheeks and brought her closer to her, and pressed her lips against the redhead. Hopefully it was enough to calm her down.

By some miracle, her own gamble worked.

Erza immediately calmed down, and looked down at Lucy. The blonde spied the dark shadows leaving the redhead, disappearing into the light. Sign that her girlfriend was back to normal.

Lucy smiled as Erza went to embrace her.

The mages allowed themselves to relax as they saw that the girl had returned to normal, and was thankful that Lucy had saved them.

"So...a kiss would solve everything?" Gray commented, as he stepped away from a tree, thinking that he doesnt need protection anymore.

Erza glared at Gray. "I won't hand Lucy over to you. She's mine."

"Eh?"

Hibiki went to Gray's side and whispered something in his ear.

Gray paled, knowing how protective and territorial Erza was.

Erza turned back to Lucy. "Lucy, why are the guys wearing the same attire as you? What worst is that you left me out."

Lucy nervously chuckled at how childish Erza was being, though it was kinda cute. At least she isn't trying to kill anyone, so that's good?. "I really don't know."

Erza pouted at her girlfriend.

"It's good to have you back." Natsu nervously grinned from behind a tree.

Erza cleared her throat, regaining her composure. "I'm sorry for my outburst."

"What about you turning to the pervy side, you brute!" Carla exclaimed angrily as she held onto her female companion for dear life.

Erza glared at the white cat. "Pervy side?

"Lucy?" Carla said as she gestured at the blonde like Erza was the dumbest of them all.

"How is that related?"

Lucy needed to stop this conservation. The mission takes priority. "We need to stop arguing. We need to get to nirvana and stop it."

"I agree." Hibiki nodded.

Natsu was leaning against a tree, not interested in the argument about Erza's dark side. But then he caught a familiar scent. He bolted straight up, with rage in his eyes. "He's here."

Not too long after Natsu's comment, a man who looked so much like Jellal, appeared from the bushes, similar to where Erza had appeared.

Much to the surprise of the other mages, Erza was the first one to speak with such calmness. "Why did you follow me?" And it was clear that she was annoyed with the man.

"Because I can." The man responded. "Was I not supposed to?" His expression remained lifeless as usual while he spoke.

Erza ran toward the man, and pushed him against the tree and choked him against his neck with her forearm. "What are you up to, Jellal?"  She asked as she summoned a sword and pointed at the man she held hostage.

Amidst the shuffle, a piece of paper fell out of the mans pocket and fluttered silently toward the ground. Lucy noticed the paper, and cautiously approached them to check out what fell from the mans pocket.

"My name isnt-" The man tried to speak, but struggled against Erzas constraint against him. "-Jellal."

Lucy picked up the paper and noted that it was a photograph. "Erza."

"Jellal isnt-" The man struggled more as he tried to speak. "-isnt me."

"Shut up!"

"Erza!" Lucy yelled, to get her attention.

Erza turned her head to the blonde, pure annoyance written in her eyes. "What?"

Lucy showed the picture to Erza. "You need to look at this."

The redhead shifted her sights to the picture and her hold on the man slacked as she realized who was in the picture. The picture revealed a family photo of two young twin brothers, that resembled Jellal.

The man took this chance to speak. "Jellal is my brother."

The knight mage resumed her choke hold on the mage, and held him more firmly so he wont try anything. "If anything, this is another one of your tricks."

"I have-" The man tried to speak.

"Erza, let him explain himself." Lucy said, seeing how forceful the older girl was being.

Reluctantly, Erza pulled back, but summoned 50 swords and pointed them all at the man, to ensure that he wont try anything.

The man massaged his neck, as it felt like it was about to be crushed. "My name is Jericho, Jellal's younger twin brother."

"Sorry, but we wont fall for that again." Erza muttered, gesturing her swords closer.

The so-called Jericho slightly frowned, wondering what actions his older brother did to these people.

"I don't need you to believe me if I'm the real deal or whatever."

"It makes all of the difference whether you're the real deal or not." Gray chipped in, feeling concerned if this was another trick or not. "I rather fight without being backstabbed by one of my comrades."

"Lets roast this bastard!" Natsu grinned, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Hold on a minute Natsu." Lucy mumbled.

"Yeah, we should stab him with one of my swords for good measure." Erza evilly chuckled, summoning one of her sharpest swords.

"Can everyone pause for one second without hurting him?!" Lucy yelled. Trying to get everyone to behave is exhausting!

"Yes, please." Jericho mumbled.

Lucy sighed and brought out her keys and summoned one of her spirit, Horologium.

"Yes missus?" The spirit saluted.

"Hello Horologium, can you search up something for me?"

"Certainly!"

"What do you know about Jellal and his brother Jericho?"

"Give me a moment." The spirit said before slumping over,

"...Is.. your spirit asleep?" Gray frowned.

"No, he's researching." Lucy responded with a matter of fact expression.

"Why does he need to sleep?" Natsu muttered.

"He looks old, so he gotta be sleeping." Erza added.

"I told you, he's not sleeping. He's doing some research for me. Horologium is an all knowing spirit." Lucy muttered as she had to repeat herself.

"AHHHH!" The spirit screamed as he stood straight up, causing all of the mages (expect for Lucy) to jump in slight fear.

"What did you learn?: Lucy asked, as this was the most normal thing ever.

"Jellal's body was completely disintegrated by a powerful lacrima explosion. Jericho is indeed the younger brother of Jellal. This information is all I'm certified to reveal."

Everyone was silent, not wanting to believe this turn of events.

"Is there anything else, missus?"

"No, thatll be all."

Horologium saluted and slumped forward again.

"What is he researching this time?" Gray asked.

"Nothing, he's just sleeping."

"Eh?" Everyone sweat-dropped at that.

Lucy sighed and turned to Jericho. "That settles it." She was about to say something else, but she noted how crestfallen the man was.

"He's dead?" Jericho muttered.

Lucy felt a little guilty and pitied the man. She handed Jericho his picture back. "I'm sorry."

"No. No need to say anything. If anything, you should blame me."

"What do you mean?" Erza asked.

"I had a chance to stop him, but he overpowered me and rendered me useless."

"No wonder you smelled differently." Natsu said. "I thought it was from the effect of the lacrima explosion or whatever."

"Pervert." Gray coughed into his hands.

"What was that you bastard?!"

"I said: you're an idiot."

It didn't take long for a verbal fight to escalate into a physical fist fight between the two hot headed mages.

Erza immediately stepped into the fight and smacked both of the boys in the head. "How can you be fighting!? We have a mission to do!"

"Ow!" Both boys yelled in union.

"Wimps." Carla muttered from the sidelines.

"Since we got side tracked, we need to speed things up and finish this mission." Hibiki said, activating his archive magic.

Everyone nodded in approval.

"So what's the plan, Hibiki?" Erza asked.

"According to my-"

"There's an efficient way to destroy this weapon." Jericho butted in, interrupting Hibikis speech. "There are six legs, and at the joint of each leg is a giant lacrima. All we need to do is simultaneously destroy all of the lacrima in order to destroy the weapon."

"Thanks for interrupting me." Hibiki pouted.

"But then, if we need to attack at the same time, how can we do that without messing up?"

"Don't worry about that, leave the timing to me. I can send a countdown timer to everyone's head for when its time to destroy the lacrima." Hibiki grinned, half glad that he wasn't interrupted this time.

"Sounds like a plan." Gray grinned.

"Alright, then I suggest that we all split into two teams." Lucy spoke.

"What do you suggest we do?" Lyon asked.

Lucy scanned, seeing who was present and who was absent. Shell need to improvise based on their magic and abilities.

"Assault team and a rescue team. The rescue team will go out and try to gather up the others. The assault team will go after Nirvana and take it down."

"Alright, so the teams, how are we going to decide that?" Lyon spoke up, asking the obvious question.

"Lyon, Sherry, and Hibiki should be on the rescue team. Your magic will be helpful." The aforementioned mages didnt complain and eagerly agreed to be on the rescue team.

"The rest of you guys will be the assault team."

"Even this man? We don't even know if we can trust this man." Erza glared at the blue haired mage.

"We'll talk about this later after we defeat Nirvana. That takes priority. Repeating herself was getting old." Lucy sighed

Erza scowled and stared at the man. "If you make one wrong move, I will not hesitate to stab one of my swords straight into your chest."

"And I will not hesitate to treat you as an enemy if you get in my way." Jericho responded with equal bloodlust.

Erza scoffed and grabbed Lucy's hand and started walking toward Nirvana. "We wasted enough time, lets go."

"Like we already haven't?" Gray mumbled, following the girls from behind.