Chapter 11

After Richard went inside the jail wagon, the others waited for what to come next.

"I feel bad for him," said Lucy.

"Aye."

"It can't be helped," said Gray.

"ALRIGHT ALREADY!!!! NOW REMOVE THE SPELL!!" Ichiya yelled.

"No..." said Lahar. "Our goal wasn't just the Oracion Seis." He pointed towards one of them in the crowd. "Infiltrating the council...firing Etherion and causing its destruction. There is an even greater threat here."

"Wait a minute!!" Natsu and Luna yelled.

"This man is dangerous. He will never be allowed to walk free in this world again. NEVER AGAIN! Jellal Fernandes, you are under arrest for the crime of federal reason."

"Wait, please!!" Wendy yelled. "Jellal has lost all his memories! He doesn't remember any of that!"

"Under article 13 of the Penal Code, that is no reason for pardon. You may release the enchantment now."

"But-"

"It's all right. I have no intention of resisting. I never manage to remember you in the end. I am truly sorry, Wendy and Luna."

"She tells me you saved her a long time ago." Carla said.

"I see. I may not know how much know how much trouble I may have caused all of you. But I am glad to hear that I at least saved somebody, once."

Luna clenched her teeth, her fear of the magic council gone, overthrown with rage. She had just met the person that she has been missing and worrying for years only for that damn council to come.

"Erza. Thank you for everything." Erza closed her eyes as her hands turned into fists.

"I have to stop this," she thought, "I have to stop it now or Jellal will be gone...just when he had finally awakened from his bad dream. I can't let him fall back into the darkness again!! I can't let him go!"

Luna clenched her fists, electricity crackling through her fingertips.

"He's not going anywhere!!" Natsu suddenly yelled as he punched one of the council.

"Natsu!" Gray yelled angrily. "This is the council we're dealing with!"

"Why you-!" Lahar pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Move it!" He tore through the crowd of guards. "He's one of us! We're taking him back with us!"

"Restrain this man!"

Luna looked at Kat who was still in shock. She hurriedly sprang into action with electricity surrounding her body. "Try me, BASTARDS!!" She could see Gray and Kat joining.

"Go for it Natsu!" He yelled, "Nobody's going to stop now! And besides, this pisses me off! That guy helped defeat Nirvana and they're not showing even a shred of gratitude!!"

Suprisingly, even Jura joined in. "It is injustice to arrest a good man."

Ichiya joined in even though he still has to go. "Though it pains me to say it, if that man is taken from her, Erza will be inconsolable."

"AAAHH!!" Lucy screamed as she tried punching the life of a fat guard. "Why do I have to get dragged into these things!!?"

"AYE!!"

"Please!" Wendy pleaded. "You can't take him away!!"

"Come with us!" Natsu yelled, "You mustn't be away from Erza! You've got to stay by her side! For Erza's sake! So come with us!! We're all here with you! You're one of us right?"

"Arrest the lot of them!" Lahar yelled. "They are guilty of obstruction of officers in the line of duty, and assisting in the escape of a prisoner!!"

"Guilty my ass!" Luna yelled as she strangled a guy and electrocuted another.

"Jellal!!" The crowd of guards somehow grew thicker around them but neither side let down.

"ENOUGH!!!" Erza yelled. "STOP THIS!!"

Everyone immediately stopped halfway from what they were doing. Happy being on the ground with shoe prints on him; Gray, Natsu and Luna halfway from punching some soldier; Lucy's pigtails being pulled; Kat biting someone's behind; and the others just staring.

All eye trained on Erza. " I apologize for the commotion. I will take full responsibility. You may...take Jellal away..."

"Erza!!" Natsu complained.

The guards continued and carried him towards the jail wagon but this time with no interruptions for the sake of the scarlet Mage. He stopped just when he was infront of it and turned around. "Of course," he spoke up. "The color of your hair...Farewell, Erza." With that being said, he smiled one last time and entered the wagon where he will spend the rest of his life in jail.

--

The mood was depressing after the magic council had left.

Luna hugged Kat next to her for warmth as the moon disappeared and the sin started to rise. The sky was scarlet, the color of Erza's hair stained with orange and yellow. It was beautiful and all, no one was in the mood to admire it.

"I wonder where'd Erza go?" Happy asked out of nowhere.

"I think we should give her some time alone..." Lucy had taken out her pigtails and is realizing next to Natsu.

It was cloudless in the sky showing the beauty even more. "I hope she's okay."

--

At Cait Shelter...

"It's cute~ This is actually my first time wearing a dress." It was pretty simple. Similar to Wendy's but yellow. A bandage covered her right arm and legs with smaller ones covering her bruises. Her hair was in a braid like Lucy's except longer with a yellow flower lying at the side of her head.

"Hmph!! After all those times trying to force you into a dress and you just decide to wear one suddenly!?" Kat complained while crossing her arms. She had a purple iris on her ear and a purple dress. A single bandage was on her leg.

"Ahh~ So cute!" Lucy complimented.

"I assure you, mine is way cuter." Sherry was looking at the mirror.

"Is this style passed down among the Nirvit then?"

"Come to think of it...I suppose...Maybe that's right?"

"Of course, you weren't aware that the entire guild was made up of the descendants of the Nirvit tribe."

"Don't you want to try something on Erza?" Lucy asked. "You'd look great!"

"Yes... I suppose."

Luna ran over and sat next to Erza. "C'mon Erza! Cheer up! You weren't like this when we first met now were you?" She smiled and ruffled her hair. "You and Lucy can be twinsies!"

"Incidentally," said Sherry. "Wendy, how long has Cait Shelter been a member of the union of guilds? And also Dragoon Mark? Though it feels a little wrong to say this... I never actually heard the names before the mission began."

"Come to think of it... Me neither."

"Ehehehe..." Luna scratched the back of her head. "Well, our guild isn't that well known after they had just recently been established." She sighed.

"Is that so?" Wendy asked. "Wow...our guild really isn't very known, is it...?"

"Not that I care," Carla spoke up. "But everyone's ready for you."

--

"Fairy Tail; Blue Pegasus; Lamia Scale; Dragoon Mark; and you Wendy and Carla. Congratulations on defeating the Oracion Seis and halting Nirvana. As representative of the local union of guild, I, Roubaul, offer you my thanks. Thank you."

"YOU ARE SOO WELCOME!!" Ichiya yelled all of a sudden, his trimens mimicking his every move. "MASTER ROUBAUL!! AH, THE CONFLICT WITH THE ORACION SEIS WAS JUST ONE FIERCE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER!! IT WAS FAR FROM AN EASY TASK!!" He and the trimens did an awkward pose. "YET OUR BINDS OF COMRADESHIP ULTIMATELY LED US TO VICTORY!"

"That's out sensei!" The three cheered.

"Way to steal the spotlight," mumbled Gray.

"Come to think of it, did he even defeat anybody?" Lucy asked.

"I THINK THIS CALLS FOR A PARTY!!" Natsu cheered excitedly.

"Aye, sir!!"

"FOOD!!" Luna cheered.

"Ichiya." He said.

"Ichiya!!" They repeated.

"The shining star."

"The shining star!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!"

"A party, huh?" Lyon said. His and Gray's shirts had somehow disappeared.

"Stop stripping!"

"HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HI-" They all stopped dancing in shock. The people from Cait Shelter stood still, not even smiling.

"My friends... I must sincerely apologize to you all..." Roubaul said. "For concealing the truth of the Nirvit tribe..."

"You ruined the mood for that?" Luna asked as she out on her best poker face.

"Seriously," said Natsu. "We don't mind. Right, guys?"

"I don't mind either, Master," said Wendy.

Roubaul sighed. "Everyone, I ask that you listen carefully to what I am about to reveal. First of all, we are not the descendants of the Nirvit tribe. We are the Nirvit tribe. The man responsible for constructing Nirvana four hundred years ago... Was I."

"What?!" Lyon yelled in disbelief.

"No way..."

"Four hundred!?" Happy exclaimed.

Natsu's eyes widened at he stared at Wendy whom was shaking in disbelief.

"Four hundred years ago, in hope of putting an end to the wars that ravaged the world, I created the magic reversal, Nirvana. Nirvana became our home and nation, a symbol of peace for many long years. But a great power will always find itself appose to another. For all the darkness that it had turned light Nirvana had taken more and more 'darkness' upon itself. It is a matter of balance. It simply changes a person's nature from darkness to light and from light to darkness."

"Now that makes sense with Sherry and Richard..." Gray mumbled as he pictured from what happened to Sherry and Richard.

"No..." Wendy's body trembled as her eyes widened even more with every word he had said.

"It was he'll," Roubaul continued. "We fought amongst ourselves, almost to extinction. I was the only survivor. Yet, even my own body perished many years ago. Now I remain a little more than a spirit. In order to atone the sin I committed and find the power to destroy Nirvana, I have watched over this place for four hundred years now. Now, my task and finally over." He smiled warmly.

"Th-that's just..." Wendy was on the verge of tears.

Suddenly, four people disappeared in a flash. "Magna! Pepel! What is this!? Why are you-?"

"Everyone!" Carla yelled.

More disappeared, each time increasing the number of vanishing people at the same time.

"What's going on here!? They're all vanishing!" Hibiki yelled.

"No! You can't!! You can't just disappear!"

"I must apologize for deceiving you all this time, Wendy." Roubaul's body also started to glow. "All the members of the guild were but an illusion that I created."

"WHAAT!!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Illusions with their own personalities?" Jura said in shock. "Such frightful magic power!"

"In order to watch over Nirvana, I lived alone in this abandoned village. Seven years ago, a boy appeared before me. Taken back by his clear and earnest gaze, I could not help but agree. Even though I had sworn to lead a solitary life, I put that aside and created a guild of illusionary companions."

"An entire guild created for Wendy's sake," said Lucy as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"NO!!" Wendy cried, tears streaming done her face. She covered her ears wit her hands. "They can't all disappear!!"

"Wendy, Carla... You no longer have any need of illusionary companions." He pointed towards the crowd of mages behind her. "You have found yourselves true companions now. Your future awaits you... It is only just the beginning." The glowing started to intensify around him as fragments of his body started disappearing into the air.

"MASTER!!" Wendy tried to run up to him and hug him one last time.

"Everyone," his voice echoed through the air. "Thank you so much. Please, take good care of Wendy and Carla." With those last words being said, he disappeared in the golden glow with a smile. Wendy's and Carla's guild mark also started fading out until there was nothing left as if it wasn't ever there.

She fell down to her knees. "MASTER!!" Everyone watched in silence as Erza slowly walked up to her. She put a gentle hand on Wendy's shoulder with a soft smile that was full of sadness.

"It is always sad to part with those whom you love, but your companions will help you bear that sadness. Come with us. To Fairy Tail."

--

Up next: Dragoon Mark