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The newly formed Crime Sorciére silently walks through a barren field, each member lost in their thoughts.
Jellal has gotten his eyesight back after the former Oracion Seis assisted him and Meredy in defeating Rustyrose with his attempts of persuading Meredy to join him; after all, they used to be a part of the same guild, Grimoire Heart, shortly before the Fairy Tail Tenrou group defeated them and disappeared for seven years.
Rustyrose's words about Tartaros keep on playing in Jellal's mind, feeling as if he's missing something important that concerns him. He frowns as he comes up with another dead-end, feeling frustrated after failing to come up with leads.
The group continues to trek the barren field, Meredy attempting to make small talks with Richard and Sawyer. The former Oracion Seis group still feels a little wary around Jellal and Meredy, except for Richard, it seems, but seeing as Erik seems fine with joining the duo, the rest of the group went along with it, deciding to trust Erik's abilities.
"Where's Jellal?" an unknown female voice hisses. Her mind is racing, trying to think of new ways to come up with new "techniques" to get her prisoner to talk.
"I-I don't know!" a familiar voice cries out, gasping for breath as the unknown woman in front of her grabs a hold of her head and pulls the woman in front of her at eye level.
"Oh?" the unknown woman smirks.
"I will now raise your sensitivity level to its maximum level," the unknown woman sneers.
The prisoner, now identified as the almighty Titania, Erza Scarlet, gasps before crying out in pain as the woman in front of her slashes her stomach.
"Don't make Kyoka wait for too long," the unknown woman, Kyoka, coos mockingly.
Erza continues to scream and cry out in pain as the seemingly endless torture continues.
Erik unknowingly gasps out loud, not realizing that he had stopped walking and is now left behind the group.
Jellal and the rest turn to look at Erik upon hearing him gasp. His face looks paler than usual and his expression looks horrified, his eyes looking as if his being is starting to drift away.
Jellal frowns in worry before walking back to where Erik is still left standing until he's in front of the dragon slayer.
"Erik?" Jellal calls out to the poison dragon slayer softly as to not startle him.
Erik draws in a sharp breath before looking at Jellal, glancing at the sky, and looking back at him.
"Boss," Erik begins, his voice trembling a bit.
Jellal's frown deepens, feeling genuine concern for his newly recruited member. He glances back behind him to where the group is left waiting, seeing that he's not the only one whose face is painted with concern.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Jellal proceeds to ask calmly, trying not to let his new comrade know how anxious he's starting to feel; though, if Erik wanted to know how he's feeling and what he's thinking of, all he has to do is listen in and have a "look" inside Jellal's head.
"Someone . . . we know is," Erik pauses, not knowing how to continue without worrying the blue-haired mage in front of him. He looks at his expression and sighs, knowing that no matter how he says it, it will not calm the mage down.
"Someone we know well is getting tortured for information. They have just entered my hearing range," Erik continues slowly.
Jellal blinks before worry starts to flood his mind, pictures of the scarlet-haired mage he so deeply adores flashing through his mind. Erik tries not to wince upon seeing the image of the female knight in Jellal's head.
" . . . what?" Jellal whispers, starting to look a little paler than before.
"Erik, what do you mean? Who is it?" Meredy asks while closing in on the duo, the rest of the group following her lead.
Erik sighs, his heart feeling heavier all of a sudden as he continues to read the heavenly body mage's head.
Might as well say it how it is, Erik thinks as he hears another scream from the distance, wincing.
"Titania got kidnapped along with the she-demon, Mirajane, after heading to the old chairman's house to protect him. Turns out, Tartaros members have been targeting former council members and killing them," Erik explains after prodding into the scarlet-haired mage's head for information.
The rest of Crime Sorciére gasps in shock and horror. Meredy whimpers out "what?" before turning to Richard and burying her face in his chest. The big man tries to comfort the pink-haired mage by rubbing her back soothingly, but even he, himself, is feeling worried for the two mages.
Jellal's heart stops after hearing Erik's words. He could've sworn he stopped breathing as all thoughts left his mind. If he tried, he bet he could hear his heart breaking into thousand pieces.
"N-no, that's can't be. Erza's strong. There's no way the former chairman would've been able to capture someone as powerful as her," Jellal says in distress, clutching his head as multiple scenarios
"Well, that would be correct in normal circumstances, but not even Titania can escape a sleeping herb. It seems like the former chairman slipped it into Erza's and Mirajane's teas and handed it to them," Erik explains.
Upon Erik's words, Jellal feels a sudden burst of anger shooting up his veins. His entire being feels hot as if molting lava has been poured inside of him, the heat just simmering underneath his skin. His eyes narrow dangerously and his teeth grit in fury as his mind starts to conjure up multiple ways to make the former chairman suffer.
"Where is their base? It has to be close seeing as you're able to hear their thoughts so clearly," Jellal asks calmly, his face betraying nothing despite the anger simmering beneath the surface of his skin.
Erik says nothing and simply points up to the sky at a floating and moving cube.
Crime Sorciére gapes at the giant cube.
"Wh-what is that?" Sorano asks in both awe and horror.
"That's where Tartaros is located. It seems like Fairy Tail members have joined the "party" after one of their members blew up the guild," Erik explains, gazing at the moving cube.
"One of their members blew their guild? What? How?" Meredy exclaims in shock after calming down.
"Mind control," Erik answers simply.
"Who are these people?!" Sorano exclaims angrily.
"They're demons from the book of Zeref, and they're trying to activate this weapon that the council has hidden called Face," Erik explains.
Jellal hasn't been paying attention to the conversation around him, his mind too busy worrying over Erza and plotting the deaths of multiple people.
Jellal looks up at the moving cube.
"Let's go. I'm sure Fairy Tail will need all the help they can get-especially if they're dealing with demons from the book of Zeref and with people injured," Jellal says in a hard tone.
"Uh, boss, I don't know if that's a good idea," Erik disagrees.
Jellal looks at Erik sharply.
"You're the last seal for Face, it seems. If they kill you, Face will activate, and magic power will be lost," Erik explains hurriedly.
For the second time that day, Jellal's heart stops. Again. Him? The third seal? You've got to be kidding me.
"I remember Face," he says quietly. "The keys were randomly linked with the council members back when I was still a part of the council. No one knew if they were a key other than the chairman himself. It was a single-blind experiment, you could say," Jellal continues.
Erik suddenly looks up, listening to the events happening in the cube.
"The chairman was able to transfer the key to himself. You're no longer needed by Tartaros, Jellal," Erik explains as he continues to listen to the events in the moving cube.
"Seems like you're right about the Fairy Tail wizards needing assistance, though," Erik grimaces as he can see the bodies of those who were injured through the minds of those who are still fighting.
"Let's go," Jellal commands before heading over to the moving base.
"How are we gonna get up there?" Meredy asks as she follows the blue-haired mage.
"We'll find a way," Jellal says determinedly as he and the rest of his team continue to run to the base in hopes of assisting the wizards fighting for their lives, but most importantly, to save the person who has been lighting up Jellal's path and guiding him to the path of righteousness.
I'm so sorry, Erza. Please, hold on. We're coming to save you. Don't give up.
Those are Jellal's thoughts as he continues to run to his destination to complete one mission: rescue the light of his life.