2/2

"Last night's incident at Akane Beach, on the border… Judging from what rescued eyewitnesses have said, it would seem that magic cult is not the one occupying the R-System." The hooded man replied.

"Just who is, then?!" The short cat man questioned.

"He apparently calls himself Jellal." The hooded man replied.

"Jellal…!" The cat man exclaimed in shock.

"That's your twin brother, Siegrain!" The bearded man said looking at the young blue haired man.

"Yes. I'm aware of that…" The man known as Siegrain said.

Back with our group

"Say, do you think the people trapped in the cards have been rescued?" Lucy asked.

"We left the military know before we left, so they're probably fine now." Gray replied as they were now on a boat on the way to The Tower of Heaven.

"I hope so." Lucy said.

"Where are we anyway?!" Gray questioned as they stared into the open horizon of the ocean.

"Have Juvia and her companions become lost?" Juvia questioned.

"We're not lost, were on the right path. Probably." Itachi replied with an emotionless expression.

"What do you mean probably?!" Lucy questioned with thick marks on her head.

"It's not exactly easy to travel on the sea without a compass or a map. Besides Natsu's nose will lead us there anyway." Itachi replied.

Lucy turned towards Natsu. "Natsu, are you sure this is the right way?" Lucy asked then paled at seeing Natsu hanging his head over the side of the boat looking like he was about to vomit.

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

"How dare you betray the lovely Gray-sama's expectations?!" Juvia said sharing Gray's expression.

"Damn…! I can't believe we let 'em knock us out and snatch Erza and Happy… Talk about pathetic!" Gray said with shame in his voice.

"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 about Erza!" Gray scolded.

"I-I'm sorry…!" Juvia apologized.

"She was caught off guard and nothing more." Itachi commented.

"Hey, how did they get past you anyway?" Gray questioned.

"…."

"Yeah, you looked like you were in pain for a while there." Lucy said as they all besides Natsu who was busy not throwing up, looked at Itachi.

"… Must have been something I ate." Itachi said and continued looking out at the horizon.

"Are you sure? Are you alright now?" Gray asked looking a little worried.

"I'm fine… Let's just focus on getting Erza back." Itachi replied.

Natsu still looking pale stood up and looked around. "Huh?1 What's this ominous feeling?!" Natsu questioned as everyone looked in one direction as they saw the birds that were flying in the air die.

"The birds!" Lucy said.

"What in the world…?" Gray questioned when suddenly the ship hit something, they looked in the water and saw dead fish floating and some wooden parts that looked like they belonged to a ship. "The fish too?!"

"Something's not right here." Juvia said.

The group then spotted a mark on the debris of the ships. "This debris… It's a Fiore military ship!" Gray said.

"I got a bad feeling about this…" Lucy said.

"We're here." Itachi said as everyone looked where he was looking.

"Is that… The Tower of Heaven?!" Lucy questioned as they a tall tower on a large rock.

"That's it." Itachi confirmed. "It looks complete."

"Water Dome!" Juvia chanted as the water surrounded the boat in a dome of water. "We can make landfall using this camouflage."

"W-Wow!" Lucy said in awe.

Natsu suddenly fell back into his motion sick state. "Can't do this!"

"We're almost there!" Lucy said.

"Geez. You've got no sense of tension!" Gray said.

With Erza inside the tower

"The ceremony will take place tonight. You can stay here until then, nee-san." Sho said now dressed in a long red robe, with a collared pink pinstripe suit underneath. Erza was in a cell with her hands tied and her arms raised above her head as the middle of the rope was attached to a hock on the wall. "Sorry it has to be this way, but it's what you get for betraying us. Jellal is angry. Still, you should feel honored. You're going to be the living sacrifice for the ceremony." Sho said with a crazed grin. "I guess I will never see you again. Even so, it's all for heaven…" Sho said as he saw Erza trembling. "You're trembling. Afraid of being sacrificed? Or is it because of where we are?" Sho asked as this was the same cell they were in back when they were children. "I'm sorry about back then, nee-san. It was my idea, but I was too afraid to say anything… It wasn't fair at all, was it?"

"That doesn't matter now. Do any of you realize the danger of resurrecting someone with the R-System?" Erza asked.

"Wow, you know what the R-System does? I'm surprised." Sho said with a cocky grin.

"The Revive System. It can bring one person back from the dead, in exchange for many living sacrifices. It's inhumane, forbidden magic." Erza said in disgust.

"Magic has nothing to do with being humane, nee-san. All magic corrodes people's humanity." Sho said with a crazed evil grin.

"That's the mindset of a black mage. You're no different than them!" Erza said referring to those who used to keep them as slaves.

"They only saw this as resurrection magic; a spell to bring back the dead. But Jellal is different. He's going to lead us to the heaven that lies further ahead!" Sho said with his back turned to Erza.

"Heaven?" Erza questioned as she pushed her feet up against the wall to climb up and get loose from the hock holding the rope.

"Once Jellal revives him, the world will be reborn. We will be its rulers. The remnants of those who stole our freedom… Your friends, the friends of the one who betrayed us… The ignorant citizens who live their lives oblivious to everything….! The pathetic, useless members if the council…! We are going to bring fear and sorrow to all! And then we'll take the freedom of all! We will be the rulers of the world!" Sho said as he laughed like a madman. Erza having gotten loose ran up to Sho and swung her arms at his chin knocking him out as he hit the cell bars.

Erza brought the rope to her mouth and bit it off. "Sho…" Erza muttered as an image of the happy little boy she once knew popped into her mind. "What can drive someone to change this much?!" Erza questioned as she changed from her dress and into her standard armor. "Jellal… Are you to blame?!"

Meanwhile on the top of the tower

A young hooded man sat on a throne chuckling as one of his minions stood in front of him. "Jellal-sama?" The minion questioned.

"Erza is a wonderful woman, indeed. She's truly amusing. Will I prevail, or will Erza? Let's enjoy this game of heaven woven around life and death, past and future…" The man known as Jellal said. He looked identical to Siegrain in every way, the only difference was the clothing, Jellal wore a dark blue hooded cloak with a white shirt with a blue tint underneath on the left chest area of the cloak was a golden mark, he had simple loose dark pants and laced boots.

With the magic council

"We must do something…!" The little old cat man said.

"We need to gather information first…" Said the hooded man.

"Send the entire army immediately!" The old woman said.

"Ignorant fools." Siegrain said.

"What did you say?!" Questioned the hooded man.

"How dare you, Sieg!" The old woman said.

"That's simply what you are, if you're willing to send in the military! It's dangerous. Too dangerous!" Siegrain said.

"What is your point?" Questioned the bearded old man.

"None of you understand anything. If you want to destroy the Tower of Heaven immediately, there's only one way! An Etherion blast from the Satellite Square!" Siegrain said.

"What?!" Questioned the bearded old man in shock.

"The destructive spell that transcends space and time?!" The old cat man questioned in shock.

"Are you insane?!" Questioned the old woman also in shock.

"Have you any idea how much destruction that would cause?! It has the power to obliterate an entire nation, you know!" The hooded man said.

"An Etherion blast is our last resort! It's even more dangerous than the R-System!" The old woman informed.

"That said, the Satellite Square can target anything in this region. And an Etherion blast is the only way to destroy that enormous structure!" Siegrain said.

"I agree." The dark purple haired woman said.

"Not you too, Ultear!" The old bearded man said.

"There are nine of us in all. Only three more… We only need three more members in favor to fire an Etherion! We've no time! We cannot allow him to use the R-System!" Siegrain said.

"Even if it means to take the life of Jellal, your twin brother?" The old bearded man asked.

"Of course. That's how dangerous of a system it is…" Siegrain said.

The Tower of Heaven

Having gotten to shore and arrived at the bottom area on where to enter the tower. "They sure have a lot of lookouts." Gray said.

"Wanna charge at 'em?!" Natsu asked.

"No, that would put Erza and Happy's life at risk." Itachi said.

"The odds sure are stacked against us…" Gray said.

"I found an underwater passage into the basement." Juvia said as the top of her body was floating on the water.

"Really?! Way to go!" Gray praised.

"Juvia was praised! Not you!" Juvia said looking at Lucy.

"Yes, yes…" Lucy replied having no idea what her deal was.

"It's about a ten-minute swim underwater…" Juvia informed.

"Oh, that's a piece of cake." Natsu said.

"Yeah." Gray said.

"That's clearly out of the question!" Lucy said being the one who saw the problem.

"Please put these on, then. There's oxygen inside, so you can breathe underwater with them." Juvia said holding some sort of water bobble in her hand.

"Oh!" Gray said in awe.

"Man, you're awesome! Who are you, anyway?" Natsu asked to which Juvia paled.

Later they swam underwater following Juvia until they reached the area in the basement of the tower. "So now we're underneath that tower?" Gray questioned.

"Where are Erza and Happy?" Natsu questioned.

"These sure are handy! But kinda silly." Lucy said holding the water bobble.

"I'm impressed you made it here I made yours smaller than the rest." Juvia said with stars in her eyed.

"Hey, now…" Lucy muttered as she paled.

Suddenly the roar of some beast was heard and they looked up to see a guard riding a monster like creature. "Intruders!"

"Uh oh!" "Lucy said.

The guards surrounded them. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Guess our only option now is to fight-" Gray said when suddenly…

"Sleep." Itachi said with his sharingan spinning as the guards and the monsters fell to the ground snoring. "We don't have time let's go."

"Why can't it always be like this?!" Lucy questioned.

Then suddenly a statue on the wall that was of the shape of a head opened its mouth and let down a walk path. "Is this a way of saying, Come up?" Gray questioned.

"Blocky!" Natsu shouted as they made their way through the tower.

"Keep it down." Lucy said.

"It doesn't matter they know we're here anyway." Itachi said. "But… This is no time for eating." Itachi said as Natsu, Gray and Juvia sat at a table that was filled with food.

"What are you eating?!" Lucy questioned.

"This appears to be a dinning hall. You should eat too, Princess." A maid with short pink hair and blue eyes, with chains on her wrists said.

"When did I summon you?" Lucy questioned to her spirit Virgo.

"Anyway that door was opened through magic so it's obvious they know were here." Itachi said.

"Are they tryin' to provoke us?" Gray questioned.

"Provoke?" Lucy questioned.

"Incidentally, Princess. I believe it's inappropriate to dress that way in the dinning area." Virgo said referring to the fact that Lucy was dressed in her swimsuit.

"Inappropriate?!" Lucy questioned covering herself with her hands.

"Let's change your clothes…" Virgo said as her fingers moved around madly

"What?! Right here?!" Lucy questioned.

As Gray looked over to them and then blushed. "Oh, man…"

"Don't look, Gray-sama!" Juvia cried.

"Hn." Itachi grunted with an emotionless expression.

After she was done changing, Lucy was now wearing a green dress of some sort. "This attire is from the celestial spirit world." Virgo said.

"What do you think? Yes, I know, it looks good on me!" Lucy bragged.

"Wow, that's pretty cute!" Gray complimented.

"Juvia is mortified!"

"Anyway, let's get going." Itachi said tired of waiting.

"I pray for your success, Princess." Virgo said as she went back into the spirit world.

"Thanks, Virgo! Honestly, I dunno how you guys can stand wearing wet clothes." Lucy said looking towards the others.

"This dries 'em quick." Gray said as he and Itachi used the heat from Natsu's flames to dry their clothes.

"A human drying machine?!" Lucy commented.

"There they are!" A guard shouted.

"The intruders!" Another one shouted as a group of them charged at them. Then Erza arrived and defeated all of them in one blow.

"Erza!" Gray said.

"You're all right!" Lucy said

"S-So cool." Juvia commented.

"Wh-Why are you here?!" Erza questioned then Itachi walked up to her and poked her on the forehead.

"Friends help each other out." Itachi said with a smile.

"P-Please leave." Erza begged. "You don't belong to this place."

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

"I'm telling you to leave." Erza said.

"But." Lucy said.

"They took Happy! We can't just leave now!" Natsu shouted.

"They have Happy?" Erza questioned. "Don't tell me it was Milliana…"

"Where is this person?!" Natsu asked.

"I-I'm not sure." Erza replied.

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

"Got what?" Gray questioned.

"The fact that Happy is waiting for me!" Natsu shouted and ran past Erza.

"Hey! Natsu…" Erza said.

"That moron!" Gray said.

"Let's go to!" Lucy said.

"No!" Erza said bringing out her sword. "Milliana is an incomparable cat lover. I can't imagine her hurting Happy. I'll take responsibility for bringing them back. The rest of you need to get away from here at once."

"No! we can't leave without you!" Lucy argued.

"This is my problem! I don't wish to drag you into it." Erza said.

Itachi lightly hit her on the head. "Don't go of acting all knightly again. Besides I'm involved as much as you are, I rescued you from this place, I will help you take it down. Besides all of us have been dragged into this by now."

"I won't allow-"

"It's an order." Itachi said with an angry expression making Erza shake a little.

"O-Okay…" Erza muttered in fear.

"Tell them now what this tower is, and who this Jellal is." Itachi said. "And don't worry, no matter what we will help you out."

"This is The Tower of Heaven, also known as the R-System. It happened over ten years ago… A black magic cult began constructing it in order to cast a forbidden spell that can bring the dead back to life. It required many human sacrifices, who they used as slave labor to amplify the amount of magic energy. I was one of the sacrifices here when I was little. One by one people who tried to escape or resist disappeared. I never felt at ease. I was always afraid. Even so, I made friends I could trust…even if it was for but a brief time. It was around then that I met Jellal." Erza said as she began explaining how things went down with Jellal how he was later captured and tortured after he tried to save Erza. "One day, the guards found a boy washed up on the shore. They took him and placed him in the same cell as me and some other people. When he woke up we had a little chat then he decided to break free, the guards never counted on that this boy was extremely powerful. That boy was Itachi, onii-chan. We then stood up for our freedom… To save Jellal… Back then, Jellal was our leader… He had a strong sense of justice… I looked up to him. However… At some point, it was as if Jellal had become another person entirely… If you could call a person truly evil…then that is what I would call Jellal."

Erza began to tell the tale of the battle the slaves took against the ones who have kept them prisoned for so long, how Rob died, how she was inspired to join Fairy Tail, how Jellal changed after having talked to the so called god "Zeref" and how the thought of being chosen changed him. How Jellal took over the tower and decided that he would revive Zeref. But most of all, what really made Itachi angry was that Jellal threatened her to leave and that if she ever is to tell anyone in the magic council about it he would kill all the slaves and destroy the tower, and that Erza would have their deaths on her conscience forever. What made Itachi even more furious is that Jellal did this even though Erza had feelings for him.

Erza was now shaking as a trail of tears ran down from her one real eye. "I…will fight Jellal."

The Magic Council

"Our only course of action now is an Etherion attack from the Satellite Square!" Siegrain declared.

"The R-System is a forbidden magic that must not become a part of the history books. You do understand what that means, don't you?" Ultear said looking at the other council members who looked skeptical about this whole plan.

"An Etherion attack would obliterate everything. Including innocent civilians!" Another council member informed.

"Plus, Jellal is your twin brother. It goes without saying he would be killed as well. That doesn't trouble you?" The old cat man questioned looking at Siegrain.

"I am prepared for that." Siegrain said looking like he was grieving about his twin brother's fate.

"We have all come this far standing on the back of sacrifices. Such is the magic world of today." The hooded man said.

"Master Leiji! If we do this, we'll go down in the history books for the crime of attacking Ka Elm territory without warning!" The old bearded man informed.

"In that sense, we'll have made another sacrifices of our own for progress." The old woman said.

"Master Belno!" The old bearded man said to the old woman known as Belno's statement.

"The dead cannot come back! We must be able to say that when we teach our children the value of life!" The hooded man known as Leiji said.

"I've got no choice. I vote in favor of the Etherion attack." Belno said raising her hand in a vote.

"One more to go…" Siegrain muttered.

The Tower of Heaven

"One more, huh… Just one more person until it's game over…" Jellal said chuckling darkly as he sat on his throne.

Back with Itachi and the others

"Hold on, Erza! That Zeref guy you mentioned…!" Gray said as a memory of a certain demon came to mind.

"Yes. I'm sure you've heard of him." Erza said.

"Th-That monster that came out the Lullaby… They called it one of Zeref's demons!" Lucy said.

"Lullaby?" Itachi questioned.

"The Eisenwald guild tried to kill the guild masters they thought using a flute known as Lullaby would help, the flute turned into a giant demon, we took care of it." Erza explained.

"Huh. I missed a lot when I was gone didn't I?" Itachi asked.

"Meh, only two major things." Gray replied.

"Anyway, Lullaby is not all. Deliora was most likely a demon from the Book of Zeref as well." Erza said.

"Are you saying Jellal is trying to revive that same Zeref?" Juvia asked.

"I don't understand his motive, but according to Sho, a former friend of mine, they're supposed to become rulers in heaven once Zeref is revived…" Erza said.

"This former friend business just doesn't make any sense to me… Wasn't Jellal the traitor, not you?" Lucy asked.

"He must have obviously feed them false information, I'm guessing something about her and me betraying all of them and leaving them to die." Itachi said.

"Most likely." Erza said but then looked down in shame. "But I did leave them for eight whole years… That still makes me a traitor."

"But you did it for their sake! Yet…!" Lucy said.

"It doesn't matter now, Lucy." Erza silenced Lucy. "If I defeat Jellal, it will all be over."

"Wh-What's with that story, nee-san…?" Sho said having arrived at the scene, he had his eyes wide in disbelief and he was sweating.

"Sho…" Erza muttered.

"Are you trying to get your friends' sympathy with that nonsense?! It's a load of crap! The truth was nothing like that! You and him blew up our boats and escaped on your own! We all would've ended up on the bottom of the sea had Jellal not caught wind of the betrayal! Jellal said this is the fate of those who don't learn to use magic in the proper way! He said that he got you drunk with the power of magic and that he told you to cast off everything in your past, us included!" Sho shouted pointing at Itachi.

"And you believed him?" Itachi asked. "Do you really think the Erza you knew would do something like that? Ask yourself this, can you really call yourself Erza's friends if you're not even willing to hear her side of the story?" Itachi asked making Sho shake in shock.

"W-What would you know?! You were only here for a few minutes! What could you possible know about us?! Jellal's words were my only salvation! That's why I spent eight long years finishing this tower! For Jellal's sake… You're saying…it was all a lie…? That you're right…and that Jellal is wrong…?!" Sho questioned with tears forming in his eyes.

"That's right." Simon said as he appeared in a shadow in the room.

"You!" Gray was about to charge when Juvia stopped him.

"Please wait, Gray-sama. This gentleman knew he was attacking your double back then." Juvia said.

"What…?!" Gray questioned.

"As a dark spell-caster, he surely saw everything clearly. Ascertaining that truth was another reason Juvia came here." Juvia informed.

"I'd expect no less from a member of Phantom's renowned Element 4." Simon said.

"What does this mean?" Sho questioned.

"Sho… I did it to bring everyone to this tower without rousing your suspicions." Simon replied.

"Wh-Why? Why would you…?" Sho said as tears formed in his eyes.

"Sho… Jellal has everyone fooled." Simon said as he placed his hand on Sho's shoulder. "I decided to play along until the time was right."

"Simon… You were…!" Erza muttered in shock.

"I always believed in you, Erza. For eight years straight…" Simon said as Erza began to form tears again in her eyes, tears of happiness that is. "I'm happy to see you again, Erza. From the bottom of my heart."

"Simon…" Erza muttered as they embraced each other in a hug.

"How…? How can everyone have so much faith in you? Why… Why couldn't I believe in you, nee-san…? Damn it!" Sho cried as he hit the floor. "What's real?! What should I believe in?!"

Erza walked up to Sho. "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. I'm sorry I was so helpless…" Erza embraced Sho in a hug. Itachi looked at Erza and remembered how sometimes she would cry in her sleep when she was younger while thinking about the others from this cursed tower.

"But now you can do something. Isn't that right?" Simon asked to which Erza nodded. "I've been waiting for this moment. For mighty wizards to gather here…"

"Mighty wizards?" Lucy questioned.

"We're going to fight Jellal…all working together. First we must prevent the Salamander and the others from clashing." Simon said.

"This Jellal seems to be nothing more than a pawn in a larger ploy. All I know is that he is living in an illusion, and he will not be free until someone beats him back into reality." Itachi said.

"You're thinking there is a way to bring him back to who he used to be?" Simon questioned.

"Maybe, maybe not, depends if he's not too far gone." Itachi said as some sort of hope returned in Erza's eyes.

With Natsu

Natsu ran around the tower until he stopped in front of a room filled with cat decorations. "What's with this room? There's cats everywhere…" Natsu said as he spotted a large green cat head mask. "Oh! This is neat! It's a costume! Boink!" Natsu said as he placed the mask on his head and did some poses. "Let's go, Happy! Aye, Sir! Heh." Natsu chuckled then tried to take the mask of but to no avail. "Huh?! I-It's stuck! Oh, man…" Natsu said looking a little gloom. "But it's cool, so oh well!"

While behind him was Wally with his gun arm ready. "Dandy."

And this is the end for now!

Next time will be the start of the battle on the tower of heaven. Now some of you were against the idea of me including some Naruto villains to be Itachi's opponents in some cases, so I want you to tell me in the reviews if you would prefer Naruto villains or some OC villains. Even though Itachi will fight Jellal in the end of this arc, he will still need to fight a henchmen and I'm not sure which one to pick so either a Naruto villain or an OC villain.

Also in case you're wondering, I have decided when Itachi will reveal to the others that he is sick. I will not tell you when it will happen, but I'm just letting you know that I have decided.

Also I will just make some things clear, since Itachi is sick he can only use 40% of his full power. This is why some opponents like Jellal or Laxus will be a challenge for him. (Even though the real Itachi would solo everyone in FT, I'm doing this to make things more interesting)

Anyway, I will try and update this story as fast as possible probably even try and do it this week.

Anyway leave a review! (It really helps inspiring me to write!)

-Later!