Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 17

Both Gray and Erza jumped out of the boat and onto the beach on seeing the black-haired individual, who looked mildly interested on seeing them.

Erza cleared her throat and asked, "Excuse me, sir, do you know how this happened?"

The man looked up at her, seemingly in a daze. "Oh, this? I did it."

Erza's face went white. "You did this? All this destruction was caused by you?"

The man shrugged, amused. "I believe that is what people mean when they say 'I did this'. And to be fair, they were trying to 'resurrect' me."

Gray frowned. "Wait, what?"

The man shook his head. "Do you even know what happened here over the course of a few decades?"

Gray looked indignant at being asked such a question. "Of course I know. They were trying to resurrect the Dark Mage Ze-Ze- Wait! What?!"

The aforementioned mage Zeref smirked. "Mental gears are turning now, huh?"

Gray was shaking his head and waving about his palms. "Wait, no, that's impossible. Zeref existed four centuries ago. You can't be him! You look like a teenager!"

Zeref cocked his head to the side. "So, you do know. And I'm assuming you know my specialty as well."

Gray shook his head in disgust. "Giving life to monsters!"

Zeref spoke as if talking to a toddler. "And, if I can give life, is it too much of a stretch to believe that I can extend it as well?"

During their argument, neither of them had noticed Erza shaking and trembling. This man was the reason they had had to suffer. The reason for Jellal being taken away from her. She felt her knees weaken, not being able to support her weight anymore.

Gray was about to say something to Zeref, something along the lines of 'that's not possible', when Erza collapsed. Gray tried to catch her, but could not. Zeref caught her before she fell.

Zeref immediately felt something rush through him. Recognizing the feeling, he pushed Erza away from him in fear, and jumped aside. It was just in time, as a blast of black energy ripped out of his body.

This time, Gray did catch Erza. He sat her down on the ground and bent down to her height. "What happened?" he asked gently.

"Are they all dead?"

Erza's question was directed to Zeref, who thought a bit before answering. "Only one of them is dead. The others are alive."

Erza's heart began beating wildly. What? One person was dead? Who could it be? If only one person was dead, it made sense for it to be the mastermind. Was Jellal dead? No. He couldn't die. Jellal was her rock. He was stable. He was always there. He just couldn't-

"I believe his name was Simon."

Erza's heart wrenched with guilt. Guilt for the relief she felt at learning that Jellal was alive. Guilt for not even thinking about her other friends.

"Why?" she managed to croak out. Gray gave her a tentative hug. She halfheartedly pushed him away and said, "Gray, your clothes."

The black-haired teen sat down beside them. "The people of this tower committed horrible atrocities against humanity in my name. Slavery, abuse, you name it. I still wish I could find the perpetrators. I want to crush their skulls just thinking about them!"

Erza frowned. "The... perpetrators? Isn't it Jellal?"

Zeref looked at her in a confused manner. "The blue haired guy? Nah. He was being possessed."

Somehow, despite the bombshell that had been dropped on her a few moments ago, Erza's face widened into a relieved smile.

Gray, seemingly having accepted the fact that Zeref was indeed Zeref, said more professionally, "Well, we were asked to rescue any survivors. Where are they?"

Zeref smiled politely and stood up. "Come with me."

Meanwhile, back in the Fairy Tail guild, a blonde girl was on the receiving end of Mirajane's cruelty.

"Come on Lucy! I know you can do those splits! Come on! Give me another dozen!"

After a million hours of agonizing torture, Mira and Lucy sat together in the guild, having some sandwiches. Mira smiled as she poked Lucy in the forehead. "Soo, Lucy, do you have a crush on Natsu?"

Lucy's face became red. She started coughing. "Why would you think that?!"

Mira's smile never left her face, but her voice became much scarier. "Do you or do you not?"

Before Lucy could answer, a muscular hand gripped Mira's shoulder. She turned to see Laxus.

"Come with me."

It wasn't a request. Laxus said it with sheer power emanating from his body. Lucy could hear Mira's breathing quicken as she turned towards him. "Where to?"

"Food."

Mira smiled like the devil she was. "Are you asking me out, Laxus Dreyar?"

Laxus's expression didn't change, but the tiniest of blushes appeared on his face. "Are you coming or not?"

Mira put one finger on her chin, pretending to think. "What if I do?"

Without saying a word, Laxus picked Mira up, slung her over his shoulder, and walked out of the guild.

Wakaba, the smoke mage, whistled. "Damn, she looks hot like that!" A moment later, courtesy of Laxus, a lightning bolt came in through the window and hit him squarely on his chest. Wakaba was out cold.

Lucy had absolutely no idea what to do. She shrugged and went back to her sandwich.

At the Tower of Heaven, or whatever was left of it, Erza ran towards an unconscious Jellal. She lifted his head up as she whispered, "Oh, Jellal!"

Gray's face split open into a grin. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "Erza, you don't ever do anything normal do you? Your fan-girl-crush is on a Seigrain of the Magic Council?!"

Without even looking up, Erza replied, "Twins."

After Gray and Erza brought all the people in one place, Gray looked at Zeref. "What you did is morally correct, but the Magic Council is definitely going to ask questions about it. I'm sorry, but we have to turn you over to them for questioning."

Zeref raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?" he said, while unwinding the scarf from around his neck. "You would hand over one of your own to the council?"

Gray frowned. Then, his gaze fell upon Zeref's neck, which had previously been covered.

On his neck, there was a pitch black Fairy Tail guild mark.

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