"Simon..." His eyes were desperate, searching the giant for any shred of hope that would contradict the harsh truth Erza had just laid at his feet. "Simon, tell them it's all a lie! Please! Tell them Jellal would never, ever do something like that! You know, you always knew! You were there when… when he saved us! You—"
"Everything Erza said is true, Shô."
Simon's words fell into the silence of the chamber with the weight of a granite slab. Simple. Final. Uncontestable.
Shô froze, his entire body rigid with shock. "W-what?"
Simon, that mountain of muscle, advanced, his heavy steps echoing against the stone like the harbinger of a sentence. Even after so many years, he was still an intimidating figure, his face partially hidden by the grotesque metal plate. But his eyes, the one visible, were fixed on Erza with a softness, an ancient devotion that brutally contrasted with his executioner's appearance.
"I never believed in Jellal," Simon said, his deep voice reverberating through the hall, each word a nail in the coffin of Shô's illusion. "Not for a single bloody second."
"B-but… how?!" Shô shook his head, refusing to process the information, like a child who refuses to believe the sun is going to set. "You stayed! You helped build this… this monstrosity of a tower! You followed his orders for ten long years, Simon!"
"Because it was the only way I could find to protect you all," Simon replied, his voice tinged with years of frustration. He stopped, looking at the boy who was now slowly collapsing to the floor. "If I had confronted Jellal directly back then, he would have killed me. Without hesitation. And then, one by one, he would have killed anyone who showed the slightest suspicion of the truth. And you all would have died believing in a saviour who never existed."
"So you… you pretended all this time," Lucy said quietly, her brown eyes wide with a mixture of admiration and horror at the scale of Simon's sacrifice.
"Every day. Every bloody day," Simon confirmed, the bitterness evident. "I waited. I watched. I looked for a single opportunity, a single chink in his plans to stop him without putting the others' lives at risk." His gaze turned to Erza, and all the hardness in his voice dissipated, replaced by an unshakeable warmth. "I always knew you hadn't betrayed us, Erza. The Erza I knew, the stubborn little girl who led a rebellion, would never abandon her friends. Never."
Erza swallowed hard, her shoulders trembling slightly. She was strong, Titania, but to hear that confirmation, that unwavering faith from one of her oldest friends, shook her defences.
"Simon… why did you never say anything? Why did you let them all, let Shô… hate me for all these years?" her voice was a whisper, full of an old pain I knew all too well.
"Because Jellal was always watching. He always saw everything." Simon clenched his fist so tightly that the metal gauntlet creaked. "If I showed the slightest doubt, the slightest hesitation, the slightest sympathy for you, he would have known. And I couldn't risk it. Not when I still had no plan, no power, to truly defeat him. My silence… was the price to keep you all alive."
"Wow…" Gray ran a hand through his hair, visibly lost. "That's… that's a lot to process. Betrayal, counter-espionage, silent sacrifices… and I thought my problems with Natsu were complicated."
"NO!" Shô suddenly stood up, his legs trembling, his eyes bloodshot. "NO, I DON'T ACCEPT IT! IT'S A LIE! JELLAL LOOKED AFTER US! HE GAVE US FOOD WHEN WE WERE HUNGRY, GAVE US SHELTER, A PURPOSE! WHY WOULD HE DO ALL THAT IF HE ONLY WANTED TO USE US AS PIECES IN A GAME?!"
"Because he needed cheap labour to finish this damned tower," Simon replied, his voice devoid of any emotion, the raw, unvarnished truth. "And, as any mediocre tyrant knows, it is infinitely easier to control slaves who believe they are working for a noble cause than resentful slaves who only think of rebelling."
Shô recoiled as if he'd been slapped, the air leaving his lungs. "You… you're saying that… that everything was… manipulation? From the beginning? Since the rebellion?"
"The Jellal we knew, our friend, our leader… he died in that torture room, possessed by who knows what demon or darkness." Simon gritted his teeth behind the metal plate, the pain of an old loss evident. "What came out of there… I don't know what it is. But it's not our friend, Shô. Not anymore."
(Hmm. So he has reached, through intuition and observation, the same conclusion that I reached through analysis and a certain… familiarity with this kind of phenomenon,) I thought, with a pang of respect for the silent giant.
[Apparently. Although he does not have the crucial information about the possible external manipulation. His data is based purely on field experience, which makes his conclusion all the more remarkable.]
(Yes, Eos. Give the big man with the metal chin a biscuit.)
Shô was trembling from head to toe now, his whole body shaking with silent, violent sobs that he was desperately trying to contain, the sound of an entire world crumbling from within.
"So… so everything I've done…" he looked at his own hands, which had worked for ten years on that tower, as if he didn't recognise them, "all these years… hating nee-san… my own sister…" His eyes, full of horror and self-loathing, met Erza's. "I helped him. I helped him build this thing, her prison. And I… I brought nee-san here… to be… to be…" The word got stuck in his throat. A sacrifice.
"Shô." Erza's voice, low and soft, interrupted him. She approached him, slowly, like one approaches a wounded wild animal, afraid of startling it. "You didn't know. None of you knew. He manipulated all of us. It is not your fault."
"BUT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! I SHOULD HAVE REALISED!" he shouted, the tears finally falling freely, washing the dirt and dust from his face. "Simon knew! Why didn't I see it?! Why did I believe him so blindly, like an idiot?!"
"Because you were a child," I said, and my voice, to my own surprise, came out softer and less sarcastic than usual, cutting through the tense silence. Everyone turned to face me. "We all were. And children, Shô," and here my gaze met Erza's for an instant, a silent acknowledgement of our own shared history, "scared and lonely children trust, desperately, the people who promise them protection and a better future."
Shô looked at me, his face stained with tears and confusion.
"Jellal was our leader back then," I continued, my voice calm and level. "Our only hope in a world of despair. It is perfectly natural that you wanted to believe him, that you clung to that hope with all your might. There is no shame in that. Only tragedy."
"But now, you know the truth," Simon completed, placing one of his huge, heavy hands on Shô's shoulder with an unexpected gentleness. "And what you do with that truth from now on… that, my friend, is entirely your choice."
The silence that stretched for a long moment was different from the others. It was a silence of decision. Then, slowly, with a newfound dignity, Shô turned to Erza. His face was devastated, the pain of a decade of deception etched upon it, but there was something new and fierce in his eyes. Determination.
"Nee-san," he said, his voice hoarse and broken, but firm. "F-forgive me. Please. For everything. For believing his lies. For hating you. And… and for bringing you back to this hell."
"Shô…" Her name was a sigh of relief and pain. Erza took another step, and then she hugged him, enveloping the boy, because that's what he still was, deep down, just a scared and broken boy, in her arms. And he crumbled, crying as, I suspected, he had not allowed himself to cry in ten long and bitter years.
"There is absolutely nothing to forgive," Erza whispered, stroking his dark hair. "You are my brother. You always have been. And that… that has never, ever changed for me."
I watched the scene in silence from my corner, a strange, uncomfortable pang forming in my chest. A warm and rather bothersome sensation.
(Family. Bonds. What a complicated and irritatingly… powerful thing.)
[Detecting a slight elevation in your biometric signals consistent with an empathetic emotional response, Azra'il.]
(Shut up, Eos. You detected nothing. It was just a draught.)
[Right. The 'draught' that conveniently coincides with moments of human emotional vulnerability. Just logging the data for later analysis.]
After a moment, Erza gently pulled away from Shô, keeping her hands on his shoulders, her face now marked by a new and urgent determination. "Now," she said, her commander's voice returning with full force, "we need to find the others. Millianna, Wally… they also need to know the truth before they make an irreparable mistake."
"Millianna, the cat-addict… she's with your blue cat, Erza," Simon said, his tone practical. "Happy. She's taken him somewhere higher up in the tower."
"HAPPY?!" Natsu, who had been surprisingly, almost miraculously, quiet during the entire emotional scene (probably from not having understood half of it), suddenly exploded like a time bomb that had finally reached zero. "MY HAPPY IS IN THIS TOWER?!"
Erza sighed, the sound of a patience being tested to its limit. "Yes, Natsu. She's always had a… particular obsession with feline things."
"WHERE IS HE?! WHERE DID SHE TAKE HIM?! HAPPY! MATE, I'M HERE! HAPPYYYYY!" Natsu was already whipping his head in all directions like a desperate hunting dog, sniffing the air with a manic intensity. "I CAN SMELL HIM! YES! THE SMELL OF FISH AND DESPAIR! IT'S THIS WAY!"
And before any of us could react, he shot off down one of the corridors like a flaming comet, leaving a trail of flames and shouts of "HAPPYYYYY!" behind him.
"OI! WAIT UP, NATSU, YOU FLAME-HEADED IDIOT! GET BACK HERE!" Gray shouted, already running after him.
"Oh, for all that is celestial…" Lucy covered her face with her hands in a gesture of pure and profound exhaustion.
Erza massaged her temples with her fingers, that familiar gesture of "why, oh why, am I surrounded by a pack of impulsive idiots". "He… he never, ever changes…"
"Let him go," I said, watching the corridor where hurricane Natsu had disappeared with a lazy interest. "Dragneel, despite his complete lack of grey matter, can handle himself when it comes to protecting that cat. And honestly? Anyone who has the misfortune of getting in his way right now, while he's looking for his friend, will have much bigger problems than we ever would."
"Juvia completely agrees with Azra'il-san," a new voice sounded, and Juvia, who had been silent until then, probably lost in her own thoughts about her beloved Gray, took a step forward, nodding solemnly. "Juvia saw the love in Natsu-san's eyes for the little blue cat. It is a love almost, but not quite, as intense and overwhelming as the love Juvia feels for her beloved Gray-sama." She clasped her hands over her chest, her eyes shining. "Almost."
I looked at Gray, who was already a good distance down the corridor, and he, even with his back to us, seemed to feel the weight of Juvia's gaze, because he quickened his pace, as if fleeing from something invisible and terribly clingy.
Simon looked in the direction the unlikely duo had gone, then back at us. "So… what's the plan now?"
"The plan, Simon," Erza decided, with a renewed firmness, "is that we will all go together after Natsu and Happy first, to ensure he doesn't blow up the entire tower by accident. Then, we go up to Jellal to settle the score. All together. As a family."
"Right," Shô said, wiping his face and straightening his shoulders. He was still visibly shaken, like a building after an earthquake, but the foundations of his determination seemed to have solidified. "I… I know this tower better than anyone. Every corridor, every trap. I can guide you the fastest way."
"Then please," I said, with a nod, "lead the way. Preferably one that doesn't have any more emotional revelations or dramatic family encounters. My ancestral heart can't take so many emotions in one day."
The group began to move, following in the frantic direction that Natsu had disappeared.
But we didn't even get ten steps.
A sound, an echo, resonated through the tower, loud, reverberating, coming from everywhere at once, as if the very stone walls had come to life and decided to speak.
And then, a voice. A terribly familiar voice.
"Welcome, welcome, my dear and expected guests. To my humble home, to the stage of our grand reunion."
We all froze in place.
"I have been waiting for you… eagerly awaiting. Especially for you, my dear… Erza."
The voice made a dramatic pause, savouring the moment, the tension it created. And then, with a new tone, one that was almost… intimate, he addressed me. "And you too… White Wolf. It's been a long time, has it not?"
I rolled my eyes so hard I felt a twinge behind my eyeball. (Seriously? Are we really going to refer to each other by nicknames? What a lack of professionalism. And of creativity.)
[Apparently, the individual Jellal Fernandes wishes to create an atmosphere of intimidation through the use of a forced familiarity. Based on the physiological reactions of your companions, such as the increased heart rate and muscle tension, I can state that, on them, it is working with a remarkable effectiveness.]
And it was. Lucy had gone as pale as a ghost, Gray had clenched his fists in a silent fury, and even Simon, the mountain of a man, looked tense, the metal on his face reflecting the dim light in a sinister way. Erza, beside me, had her shoulders as stiff as stone, her breath caught in her throat.
But me? I just felt a growing pang of irritation. This whole theatre was so… tiresome.
(Well, now we know that he knows I'm here.)
[That is evident, Azra'il. The more pertinent question now is: how much, exactly, does he know about your true power, the power you keep sealed?]
(Not enough. If he truly knew, he wouldn't be here, playing at being a phantom radio host. He'd be on another continent. Or, preferably, in another dimension.)
Jellal's voice, soft and full of that theatrical arrogance I remembered so well, continued to echo through the stone walls, delighting in his own monologue.
"Since you are all here, or almost all, let's play a little game to pass the time. The rules, I assure you, are terribly simple."
"I hate, with every fibre of my being, when villains explain the rules," I muttered to myself, with a sigh of pure and profound resignation. It was always a sign that things were about to get much more complicated and noisy.
"Your objective? It is simple. Try to stop me from using Erza's body as the perfect sacrifice to complete the R-System and resurrect the great Dark Mage Zeref."
Shô flinched violently beside me. Erza remained motionless, her jaw locked so tightly I was surprised I didn't hear her teeth break.
"But first… a little warm-up. You will have to get past my three most loyal and powerful knights. My faithful servants. The Trinity Raven."
"Trinity Raven?" Lucy frowned, her confusion fighting the fear on her face. "But who are they? I've never heard of them."
"Assassins. Mercenaries," Simon replied, his voice deep and full of a grim urgency. "An elite group from the notorious dark guild Death's Head Caucus. They are experts in killing. Jellal hired them as his personal guard and, probably, as the front line of his defence."
"They are extremely dangerous," Shô added, still pale, but with a new and dark resolve in his eyes. "Much stronger than any guard you've faced so far. Fukuro, Vidaldus Taka, and their leader, Ikaruga. Each of them is a monster in their own terrible way."
[I have some data on them in my records of dark guild activities. High-priority access requested. Processing…] Eos sounded in my mind, her calm voice a counterpoint to the growing tension. [Fukuro is a biological anomaly, a chimera, he literally has the head of an owl on a disproportionate human body. He uses Jet Magic via thrusters attached to his back, which gives him extreme aerial speed and agility, and a particularly unpleasant ability called 'Capture', which, according to reports, allows him to devour his opponents whole and temporarily absorb their magic.]
(So he literally eats people. Marvellous. What a lovely creature. A true gentleman.)
[Vidaldus Taka is a user of two forms of sound magic: Guitar Magic, with which he uses his guitar to launch destructive sonic waves, and Hair Magic. His hair, apparently, can absorb any liquid and transform into weapons or tentacles. He also possesses a particularly dangerous technique called 'Rock of Succubus', which, according to reports, can turn his victims into his obedient, will-less servants through a specific melody. In short, mind control by heavy rock.]
(Creative, I admit. And probably with terrible taste in music.)
[And the third, Ikaruga. She is the most dangerous of the three, by far. A master swordswoman, the only known user of the Mugetsu-Ryu style. She has never, according to records, lost a single battle since the founding of the Death's Head Caucus guild. Her techniques allow her to cut anything from a distance, without needing to physically touch her target, including, and this is the worrying part, the ability to pass through and cut magical barriers. She is the leader of the group for a good reason.]
(Ah, so she's the real threat. The only one that truly matters.)
[I completely agree. The other two are freaks with ingenious but predictable tricks. She… she is a true warrior, with a refined and lethal skill.]
"Oh, and one more thing, my dear and hurried guests," Jellal's voice continued, and there was an almost palpable satisfaction, a barely disguised ecstasy in his tone that sent a shiver down my spine. "A little breaking news to spice up our game. The Magic Council has, at last, decided to take action. They have decided to fire the Etherion at this tower."
The silence that followed that declaration was absolute. Heavy. Cold.
"In just a few hours, perhaps less, everything that exists here will be completely and utterly vaporised. Erased from existence. All of us. Including you. So, I suggest, sincerely, that you hurry…"
His voice made a dramatic pause, savouring our shock, our terror.
"…or die trying to reach me. The choice, as always, is yours."
And then, the voice disappeared, leaving only the echo of his last words reverberating in the stone walls and in our frightened hearts.
"Etherion?!" Lucy was as white as paper, her legs trembling. "He can't be serious! That's… that's the Magic Council's ultimate weapon! The one that can literally destroy an entire country!"
"He's bluffing," Gray said, but there was no conviction in his voice, just a desperate hope. "The Council would never approve something like that. To destroy this tower means to kill everyone inside it, including many innocents."
"The Council, my dear Gray, has done far worse things in the name of a blind and arrogant 'justice'," Simon said grimly, his face a mask of worry. "If they truly believe that the resurrection of Zeref, even if just a possibility, is a real threat to the world, they will not hesitate to sacrifice a few pieces on the board to avoid checkmate."
Erza was quiet. Dangerously quiet. Motionless. Only her eyes, fixed on nothing, shone with a feverish intensity.
"Erza?" I touched her shoulder carefully. She flinched, as if waking from a trance.
"He… he's not lying," she said quietly, her voice hoarse. "And… he's serious. Jellal… he wants it. He wants the Etherion to hit the tower."
"What?" Shô stared at her, completely incredulous, the panic returning with full force. "But why would he want something like that?! He'll die along with us! It makes no sense!"
"I don't know why, Shô," Erza shook her head, confusion and fear fighting on her face. "But I know that tone of voice. I know that madness in his eyes. He's not worried about the Etherion. He's… excited. Happy with the idea. As if this… as if this were part of his plan all along."
(Exactly. She's right. There is something very, very wrong here.)
[I agree. If the ultimate goal is, indeed, the resurrection of Zeref through a sacrifice, being conveniently vaporised by the Etherion before the ritual's completion seems… counter-productive. And tactically stupid. Unless…]
(Unless he doesn't see the Etherion as a weapon of destruction, Eos.)
[Elaborate, Azra'il.]
(Unless he sees the Etherion as a source of energy. The largest and most concentrated one that exists. And what does the R-System require, above all else, to be activated?)
[…An absurd, almost inconceivable, amount of magical energy.]
My eyes narrowed, the final piece of the puzzle fitting into place with a sick click. Jellal's plan was far more wicked and ingenious than any of them could imagine.
(That interdimensional son of a prostitute. He doesn't want to stop the Etherion. He wants to use the Etherion to power the tower. To force the resurrection.)
[If this theory of yours is correct, Azra'il, then the Magic Council, in its attempt to destroy the threat, will, in fact, and in an ironically tragic way, hand Jellal Fernandes exactly the energy he needs to complete his ritual and bring Zeref back to life. The irony is… delicious. And deeply worrying.]
"We have to move," I said aloud, my voice cutting through the tense silence, full of a new and terrible urgency that made everyone turn to me. "And we have to do it now."
"But what about Natsu? And Happy?" Lucy asked, her eyes still wide with fear, looking in the direction where the Dragon Slayer had disappeared.
"Natsu can look after himself like no one else, especially when he's angry and looking for his friend. And, knowing him, he's probably already in the middle of an explosive brawl with someone and having the time of his life." I started walking towards the stairs that led up. "Our priority now, whether you like it or not, is to get to the top of that damned tower and stop Jellal before the Magic Council, in its infinite and blind wisdom, decides to gift us the end of the world."
Erza hesitated for an instant, her gaze still divided, the worry for her friends conflicting with the duty to stop the greater threat. I could see the battle in her eyes, the responsibility weighing on her.
"Erza, Natsu is strong. He is a Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail. He will be fine," I said, with a conviction I hoped would calm her.
"I know he is strong. He's an idiot, but he's strong," she replied, clenching her fists. "But that… that doesn't mean I don't worry. That I don't have a duty to protect him."
She was silent for a moment, the decision weighing on her face. Then, her commander's, her leader's, posture returned to the surface, but this time, it was not with coldness or rigidity. It was with a heavy but clear responsibility.
"I still think it's best we split into groups." She turned to the group, her eyes sharp and focused. "Simon, take Shô with you. Find Wally and Millianna. They need to know the truth, they need a chance to choose the right side." Her gaze moved to Gray. "Gray, you go with them. Find Natsu and Happy. Please."
That "please," coming from Erza, carried more weight than any order. Gray nodded, his expression serious.
"Leave it to me. I'll bring that idiot back. In one piece." A half-smile. "More or less in one piece."
"Lucy, Juvia." Erza turned to the two of them. "You will go another way. The tower is large; the more people looking for Natsu and the others, the faster we'll find them."
"And you?" Lucy asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Azra'il and I will go up. Straight to Jellal."
"Just the two of you?!" Lucy's eyes widened. "Erza, that's—"
"Necessary." Erza cut her off, but her voice was gentle. "Lucy, I will not put you in unnecessary danger. Jellal is dangerous. The assassins he has hired are dangerous. Azra'il and I can handle it."
(She's including me in the group of "able to handle assassins." How cute.)
[Technically, you are capable of handling far more than assassins.]
(She doesn't need to know that.)
"But—" Lucy tried to protest.
"No argument." Erza placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are strong, Lucy. But your strength is better used helping the others escape. Help find Natsu and Happy, and get out of the tower."
"Juvia understands," Juvia said, surprisingly serious. "Erza-san wants to protect Juvia and the love rival. Juvia accepts this mission with honour."
"Love rival?!" Lucy turned to her. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not—"
"And one more thing." Erza's voice grew deeper, cutting through the argument. "As soon as you find everyone, leave the tower. Immediately. Do not wait for us."
Silence fell over the group.
"Erza…" Simon began.
"We don't know when the Etherion will be fired. It could be hours. It could be minutes." She looked at each of them. "Your lives are the priority. Find the others and evacuate. That is an order."
"And if you don't get out in time?" Gray asked, his voice tense.
"We will get out." Erza said with a conviction that left no room for doubt. "But if something goes wrong… do not come back for us. Understood?"
No one answered. No one agreed. But no one argued either.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia turned to him, her eyes shining. "Please, be careful! Juvia's heart could not bear it if something happened to you!"
Gray, who was already moving away with Simon and Shô, pretended very badly not to have heard, quickening his pace.
(Is she always like this?)
[Based on all my observations? Yes. Consistently.]
Lucy sighed, looking at Erza one last time.
"You're very stubborn, you know that?"
"I've been told." Erza smiled. "Now go. And Lucy… be careful."
"You too."
Lucy and Juvia left down one of the side corridors, their voices, one complaining, the other declaring eternal love to someone who was already gone, echoing until they disappeared into the distance.
And then it was just the two of us.
"Well," I said, looking at the stairs that rose infinitely. "Just you and me now, Titania."
"You didn't have to come," Erza said, starting to climb.
"Erza." I followed her. "Shut up and walk."
She laughed, a low, surprised sound.
"You are impossible."
"Thank you."
[For the record: the probability of encountering significant opposition has increased considerably without numerical support.]
(I know.)
[You do not seem concerned.]
(Because I'm not. Me and Erza together? Please.)
[Overconfidence is statistically correlated with unexpected defeats.]
(And pessimism is correlated with being boring. Your point?)
[…Touché.]
The tower rose above us, infinite and threatening. Somewhere up there, Jellal was waiting. Somewhere in the corridors below, Lucy and Juvia were searching for the rest of the group. And in some corner of this cursed structure, Natsu was probably punching someone in the face.
Total chaos.
Exactly as I had expected.
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💬 Author's Note
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In the end, the group splits up, time is running out, there are assassins in their path, a weapon capable of erasing everyone from existence is coming…
And even so?
Azra'il and Erza climb together. 🫣
And honestly…
this isn't good news for whoever is at the top of the tower. 🤭
If you can, leave a comment saying what you thought! Seriously, reading your reactions is what makes me want to keep writing the most 💙