Chapter 4: Escape

-???-

The Jellal boy was interesting.

Holding a powerful potential magic at such a young age yet possessing a feeble mind, susceptible to outside magic. Of course, this weakness would be gone when he would grow up, but for now, she could use him.

Or so she first thought.

But another potential pawn appeared from nowhere, holding powers far surpassing anyone in the tower–even herself. 

Many would question her sanity with the words she uttered in contemplation. "I wonder if I can control him instead."

The spirit of Zeref was a perfect cover, a form she would hide behind and cast her strings upon the mind of her target and turn them into one of her followers.

"Ultear…" 

"-!" The moment she heard the grave voice of master Hades, the young girl known as Ultear immediately turned her attention away from the crystal ball and knelt down. "Hades-sama, forgive me, I did not know you were here."

Hades was a tall, elderly man with long, slicked back and silvery-white hair. Despite his advanced age, the man was still in his best form, capable of going hand to hand against quarter fighters–not to mention he is a skilled martial artist as well.

For all the power over time and space she had, it mattered not when compared to the devil in front of her. She respected and feared him at the same time, for he is her teacher, the one who was teaching her the lost magic–Arc of Time.

"How long?" He didn't bother mixing his words and directly asked her.

"Our plan is proceeding as planned, the construction is near completion. The R-system will be up and working with a year of continuous from the slave's labour." And she was interested to bring in one of those slaves as her puppet, or at least as a cover-up for her eventual joining the council.

It was always wise to have someone take the blame.

The towers of the R-System were a series of structures that Dark Mages tried to construct and use in order to revive the most powerful Dark Mage in history, Zeref. Her guild, Grimoire Heart, was the leader of the smaller dark guilds but they rarely intervened in their affairs, only offering protection and assistance.

Hades looked uninterested before turning his back and leaving the room, "Hmm, we shall continue our training later on." With that said, Hades left the little Ultear alone in her room while continued to watch the scene in the tower unfold in her crystal ball.

"I wonder what you will bring to the table, Broly."

{Break}

-The mines-

Back in the mines, Erza and the others were all gathered around in a circle–discussing something of great importance.

A gift for her birthday… or at least a date she chose randomly, cause she didn't know her actual birth date. In fact, most of the people here didn't know much about their past, with some having been brought here at a very young age. 

The 7th of April.

"Hawkeye?" Wally suggested.

Jellal put on a pondering expression before shaking his head. "No, it doesn't fit." 

Milianna being the very energetic one chimed in as well with her own name suggestion. "Fishbuster!" The catgirl cheerfully declared, not noticing the many facepalms the others made. 

"Of course not you doofus!" Sho denied it immediately, earning a pout from Millianna. "We are not naming her fish!" 

This angered the cat-loving girl as she started retorting as well. "I don't know, how about you try it, jerk!"

"What did you call me!?"

Soon the scene turned chaotic as Sho and Milianna started fighting, Jellal arguing with Wally and Rob just watching the scene with a smile with Simon joining him as well.

Erza sighed at the display, she didn't want anything for her birthday, the very aspect of getting something nice in this place was hard enough as it is and even deadly. But she didn't deny it, the gesture touched her heart. 

Broly who was by her side just continued munching on some food he got from… somewhere. Raising an eyebrow at the chaos going on in front of him, the Saiyan couldn't help but ask, "What is this family name they are all fighting about?"

Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised by the question after having been told of some of his past. But still, Erza couldn't help but feel hurt when she saw Broly so clueless over such simple things–it made her realise once again just how innocent and clueless the boy was.

"You never heard of it?" She was met with a shake of his head, "Well it's a name you're given upon your birth to go along with your first name, which in your case is Broly. It shows which family you're from and it's something you pass down to your children." Erza explains methodically to Broly, not missing a single detail.

He just seemed to get more confused with her explanation. "But I had a father… and he never had a family name as well." Paragus never mentioned anything not related to Vegeta or his training generally, but he would teach his son some basic common knowledge. 

Never had this concept of family name ever come up.

"Do you want one as well?" 

Broly stopped eating and looked at his reflection in the bowl of water. "I… I don't know…" He shook his head, as the memories of the past came back–he didn't have a family anymore. 

.

.

.

"Then I'll share with you mine as well," Erza suggested.

"-!"

Stunned by her words, Broly could only look at Erza with a questioning stare. The girl began slightly blushing after being looked at for so long and looked away. "Wha-what?"

While Erza continued to increasingly falter under his gaze, the Saiyan couldn't help but feel he was being offered something too valuable. From what he understood, only members of a family could share a name, yet was in no way related to her. 

"Why?" Was all that he could ask.

Regaining some of her confidence back, the redhead girl put up a strong front and merely just scoffed at his question. "It's because I want to and that's final!" She tried to scare him with her fist only to have the guy rest his hand on her head, his lips blooming into a slight rare smile.

"Thanks."

She was frozen, with her fast-beating heart, she couldn't move a single muscle. Like a spell cast upon her, she became utterly speechless. At this point, her face had gone full-on tomato red, which did not go unnoticed by her friends.

"Pft Hahahahaha! I knew she had a crush on big brother Broly!" Wally broke the atmosphere and his laugh made the others follow suit as well. Millianna was down on her stomach rolling on the ground, Wally and Sho used each other as support and Jellal smirked at the sight. 

Sho decided to add more to Erza's embarrassment. "And your face is as red as a tomato!"

Simon and Rob, being the grown-up they were, just stayed silent the entire time. Kids will be kids, they make jokes, make fun of others and so on. Rob wanted them to smile, and it was during these moments that all his efforts felt worth it.

Too bad for Sho, he forgot about her short temper. "I'm going to teach you a lesson Sho!" With blazing eyes filled with fury, Erza beat the living hell out of her friend who came to instantly regret his action. Wally on the side, had his face become pale white with fear, as he knew she would come for him next–so he decided to escape.

"Where do you think you're going mister!?" What might as well be the voice of a demon, rang behind his back. Before he could even go far enough, his body levitated from the ground and forcefully brought back.

"Waaaaa!" Wally cried in fear as he tried to scream for help. "Aniki! Help!" Knowing the only one godly enough to stop the raging demon with only a few sweet words, he called upon Broly for help–only to receive a dismissive shrug from the Saiyan before he continued to eat his meal. "Traitor!"

Simon couldn't hold back anymore and laughed as he watched Erza take care of the two boys, it's their fault for teasing her.

Jellal grew silent when he heard Sho's comment about Erza's face. 

"Wait, I got it! Just like your hair, we'll call you Scarlet–Erza Scarlet!" He shouted in excitement, finally finding a fitting name for her. Which was met with the sound of approval from everyone, Broly himself liked the name.

"Happy birthday, Erza Scarlet." Rob wished the young girl, making her cry from getting one of the most important gifts in her life. She smiled and turned around before saying…

"It's your birthday as well, Broly Scarlet!"

And so for the rest of the night, the entire group stayed awake celebrating Erza's birthday. It was a tiny bit of joy in such a dark and cruel environment.

{Break}

(A few days later.)

Things went back to regular everyday life in the tower for the slaves.

Erza began focusing more on her magic in secret, for as much as the guards feared their giant protector, he wouldn't be there for her all the time. And the last thing she wanted was to become a burden to someone, especially a kind-hearted person like Broly.

Her telekinesis has gone a long way since last time.

She could pick up large rocks and send them flying at fast speed, not enough to hurt the guards, but troublesome to anyone nonetheless.

Along with Jellal, they began forming a plan to escape the place with their friends, and the rest of the slaves. After that, she could finally fulfil her dream of becoming a fairy tail mage along with everyone else.

"Here, look at this place," Jellal called her and showed a large passageway underground, buried by tons of rocks and boulders. "You could use your magic to clear the place, and we can use it to escape!" He said cheerfully, feeling freedom so close would excite anyone here.

Right, she had to concentrate and focus her magic.

Feeling a slight strain in her reserves, Erza slowly began moving away the rocks and debris from the collapsed underground cave tunnel. With each piece of rock cleared, the more exhausted she became, so was Jellal who was helping her as well.

She couldn't ask Broly for help, as most of the guards' attention were focused on him, his every action was constantly monitored whenever he went working in the mines–so calling him here was a no go. 

It still bothered her that despite being so powerful, the guy never once tried to escape. He had the capability, she was sure of it when she got nearly crushed under his magic… or Ki as he liked to call it. 'He enjoyed his time here… just how miserable was he before?' 

"A-Almost there…" 

The further they went along the tunnel the closer she felt to gaining her freedom. As soon as she was done, she would bring Broly and the rest to quickly escape from this place. She would also show the Saiyan the outside world and its beauty that Rob talked about every time. They would go on adventures together, slay monsters, save people in need and have fun while at it.

Jellal seeing her increasingly weaker state, proposed to continue another day and rest for now, but Erza didn't listen. She continued to move the stones away–both of them not realising of the magical alarm they had activated a while ago.

Every part of this place was meticulously built so that no slaves could ever escape or contact the outside world, outside the regular sealed iron doors, the people in charge also built fake tunnels to act as bait for the brave enough slaves to attempt an escape.

The moment someone does indeed take the bait–a magical alarm would go off to every single guard and when captured, they'll be taught a lesson that no one would ever forget.

To completely control a slave, you must first show them hope and then crush it.

And just like they predicted, someone took the bait and it was, unfortunately, Erza and Jellal–all alone outside the watchful of Broly.

In just a few seconds, swarms of guards came running in, holding spears, staffs and swords.

"Erza! Guards!" Jellal warned Erza, but it was too late. "Argh!" A sword pommel knocked him on the head, rendering him unconscious.

"Jellal!" Erza tried to save her enemy but ended up being taken down by a guard, shackling her hands with a special chain that blocked her magic. "Wait! Please, leave him alone! He did nothing! Pleas-Aaah!" She couldn't plead anymore as her captor pressed a dagger right onto her jugular.

The one holding her down was none other than the guard captain, his face was gleeful with a maniacal grin. "Well, well, well, hehehe, look at what we have here. Two little shits who thought they could go behind our back and escape. Hehehe!" He along with the rest of the guards began laughing loudly as Erza began dreading her current situation and what would these people do to her and Jellal.

"I knew you were gonna cause some trouble, that freak certainly boosted your confidence these last few days, enough for you to try and escape." He applied more force on the weapon, a thin line of blood began bleeding from her neck. "Good news though, we got someone to take care of the big guy, hehehe, we'll finally get rid of him–for good."

No… 

Broly...

He's in danger!

She struggled as much as she could but to no avail, even when the point of the dagger began digging further into her flesh. "No! He wasn't even here! He is innocent!" She cried desperately not wanting what was at this point her family to die because of her folly.

Her expression of fear only made the guard captain laugh out more. "Hehehehe! This is what I wanted! What I missed all this time! Fear! Ever since that freak came here, everything changed, no longer were we feared by you scums whenever that guy was nearby. But with him gone, I'll reinstate the proper atmosphere back in the tower!" He said, as the dagger finally left her neck–only to have it near her eyes.

"And I'll start by teaching you a lesson you'll never forget, a punishment that'll stay with you for all of your miserable life. I'll be taking away this eye of yours!" With a single thrust, Erza could see the dagger near her eye.

Fear and despair seized her heart as in a last attempt of desperation, Erza did the only thing she could think of; she cried out for the one who could save her and Jellal.

"BROLYYY!!!"