As Lucy finished the fourth chapter, she sat the book on her lap and gave her friends some time to absorb it fully.

The present members of Fairy Tail and the Kage had already predicted that this chapter was going to be a crucial part of the life of the Requip mage.

While all of them were extremely curious, none of them voiced it.

They already knew the resume of what would happen on that fateful day in the tower of heaven.

But still a chance to see it all was a chance that could not be ignored so easily.

Naruto like most of the present was lost on his curiosity, he was really looking forward to seeing his counterpart free of such a life and more than eager to see him crack open some skulls.

However, he came out of his thoughts when he sensed the discomfort of the woman that was sitting at his side.

The redhead woman seemed sad.

Why would someone who was about to win her life back be sad?

Then realization drew upon him.

She had lost something or someone on that day.

Now he felt sad. Not for his counterpart, but for her counterpart.He could only imagine the horror that this woman went through.

So young, yet forced to withstand emotions that a child her age should never even imagine they existed, at this point he could sympathize with her since he was no older than her when he was forced to kill to survive.

In the end, Erza decided to read the chapter herself. When questioned why by her master she replied saying, "I have to do it."

The Tower of Heaven stood at the island's center. Stretching up to well over where the island's base stood. Scaffolds, woods and bricks could be seen far away from where the actual building was. And it was barely even half done.

"To think all of that was built with the blood of innocent children," said Naruto as he glared at the image that made his blood boil, every time someone picked on a child. (A/N: Especially fan-fiction writers, who seemed to enjoy making children's life a living hell. Honestly get a Doctor)

"And I am the demon," said the gigantic fox in his head. Oh, the irony of life.

Naruto didn't respond. Because the fox was right, humans liked to spam nonsense about how amazing they are and they act like the so-called demons they like to judge.

The blue-eyed ninja glanced the masters of fairy tail

"That's quite a big building to miss. Is it not Makarov," said the kage sarcastically making Mavis frown and

Makarov to look away. They really failed those children big time

When he was traveling the world, he had found this sorry excuse for a cult praying to Zeref. They had been taking as many women and children as they could find to give sacrifice to him. He had given the pathetic cult the ideas and plans for the R-System. When they heard that they could help resurrect their lord and deity, they nearly died from joy.

Most occupants of the room had a look of disgust in their faces. The only exception was Makarov and naruto.

Makarov had a mixture of pity, disgust, and sadness because he had a feeling he knew who was that person

Naruto for his part had a blank face. It was not the first time he came across people with sickening believes in his life. Hidan is the most notorious of them. After Nagato, Obito, and Madara

"What kind of people would do that," asked Natsu

"People who refuse to see the world how it truly is," replied the Kage, though his answer left many confused. Seeing the look on their faces, he clarified, "People so weak that instead of changing the world with their own hands look for some kind of god to do it for them."

"That doesn't make any sense with what you said before, " said the salamander

"It doesn't?" asked the kage

Everyone in the room shook their heads The blond sunk on his chair. 'How does Hiruzen make it sound so easy?'

A tick mark popped on Naruto's head as he heard his furry friend laughing in his head.

'Stupid fox.'

His conditions for helping to make sure that they could build this masterpiece was that he would be kept informed of all possible information. He would receive changes in blueprints and sheets of how and where they got the materials necessary almost daily. He would just throw them away; they were nothing but glorified statistics from pawns in his game.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw Makarov shift on his seat, "Based on your reaction, you know this person?"

Makarov nodded his head sadly, "Yes, and I was pretty close to him at some point."

Naruto wanted to inquire further but Mavis told him that all would become clear later in the story.

What he did keep with him though were files and reports on the slaves the cult had captured. Weekly updates on their status and abilities they measured while they worked. He wasn't particularly interested in these reports at first. To him it appeared as nothing more than a growing nuisance from these fools who played the scapegoat like they were the lead. But then, he received the report of a familiar face years ago.

He remembered the sad chuckle he let out at the sight of the man. Rob had grown so old and fragile, a far cry from what he was back in Fairy Tail. Gone was the giant of a man, who could stop charges and heal his wounds in minutes. He remembered when the man was only a teenager, learning Healing and all the base magic to an art form. He had always thought that Rob would never be a great fighter, until he made those weapons from scratch. With the help of some blacksmiths and his own innovative mind, Rob made a weapon that tested his strength, skill, and magic power.

The young kage eyes narrowed as his brain started to connect the dots.

The book kept referring to the person as he which obviously meant he was a man.

The book also mentioned the connection between him and fairy tail which meant that at some point he was a member of the guild.

The son of Kushina and Minato also remembered when the hologram showed the image of the encounter between team Makarov and the god of shinobi. The mages seemed young at the time. Since he wasn't there could only mean that this man was not part of team Makarov.

Meanwhile, in the sidelines, the group of mages watched in silence has the blond tried to put the pieces together.

"Wow he really his into it," said the pink-haired mage in awe as he watched the blond narrowed his eyes.

It was like the goofy teenager suddenly became someone else. He only saw such change in behavior from important people like the first and the third master of fairy Tail the behavior was shared by many in the room even Erza stopped reading to look at the shinobi.

Makarov and Mavis were less suppressed. Because they knew what the blond was capable of.

Well at least Mavis knew and Makarov by some degree.

"So he knew that Rob was there and did nothing to help," said Naruto making some of them gasp and surprise.

The blond looked to Makarov, his eyes pierced the elder that was once blond like a knife

"Your friend really lost that loving feeling, didn't he?" he finished with a sarcastic remark.

"Yes, as much I want to justify his actions. There's no forgiving for what he did," said the son of Yuri.

"Then you mind telling me why you allowed him to live," demanded Naruto icily as tension grew in the room by several degrees as the blond glared daggers.

"I didn't exactly allow him to live,"

"But you could have stopped him," pointed out the blond is the same icy tone, but he raised an eyebrow as if saying, 'Stop making excuses.'

Makarov narrowed his eyes but said nothing, he could have stopped Hades if he was willing to, but he was more interested in why his mentor had fallen from grace.

Naruto sensed the torrent of emotion that the elder master was felling, it truly was pathetic what others would do to when they lose to their emotions.

Meanwhile, the others were listening to the conversation with the utmost interest. The blond was talking to their master like if he was someone his age.

"Wow, he's so cool," said the card mage with a nod of her head

"Yes, the kid really knows how to put a show," continued her father, sipping his drink.

Erza coughed ratter loudly getting the attention of the others

"Ok I know you guys want to impress the readers but honestly this is just too much. Sure SoulOfLacaune makes a good point but that doesn't mean we have to interrupt the story every paragraph," said Erza half-annoyed at the two of them.

"Erza is right some people enjoyed it just the way it was, " said Lucy

"Ok why don't we continue then."

Getting a collective nod the redhead mage prepared to keep reading with a tingle in her chest as she predicted what was about to happen, she could only hope all of them would make it out alive, and her dearest friend would not have to suffer as he did.

He reminisced of the old days when he would receive reports about how Titan Breaker Makarov and Mad Rush Rob had destroyed a diplomatic building while fending off rogue assassins. He got quite an earful from the magic council about how the ambassador to Ca-Elum was asking for their heads. And how they had to make up for the action by escorting the diplomatic family and ensuring their safety. They were almost free of all charges until Bob had gotten frisky with both the daughter and the son of the ambassador. The whole team is still banned from any contact or travel into the foreign nation.

The fifth Hokage closed his eyes as the final piece of the puzzle fall into its place.

Reading reports is something only authorized personnel are allowed to do. If he had access to that, he wasn't a simple mage from Fairy Tail.

"Who is responsible for the management of files. And by files i mean confidential files such is mission reports?" asked the blond kage to the guild members.

The members of the number one guild of Fiore exchange looks between each other unsure of what to say. In the end they all stared at the masters.

Makarov signed the blond already gave him headaches. And he wasn't even a member of his guild…yet. He was about yo tell him, but Mavis had other plans.

"I am sorry Naruto. But I cannot tell you this information," she said with a flat tone one that left no room for argument.

The way Mavis talked surprised all those present, the mages because the first master would never be so rude to someone outside of combat, especially an ally. And Naruto because he could sense the challenge underneath.

Always look underneath the underneath. Who said that was a fucking genius.

"Wasn't you who called him a moron a month ago?" asked the tailed beast.

"First of all, Kakashi is a certified genius, and second, he is also a certified idiot third he wasn't the one who said that to me."

"Oh I forgot it was the old moron"

"Well compared to you he was like a newborn child, fresh from his mother's womb."

"And compared to you, you are still a fetus."

Naruto faked a gasp

"I can't believe it, the powerful nine tails is now confined by a simple fetus. Talking about fall from grace."

Naruto came back to reality with a roar of the nine tails, he leaned back in his chair when he noticed all eyes were on him.

"I see. He was the second guild master. Wasn't he?" asked the kage already knowing the answer

"How did you know that," Lucy voiced the question that was on the minds of all of them.

Naruto shrugged "I didn't you just confirmed it for me. Thank you"

Lucy in her shocked state mumbled, "You're welcome."

Erza took that moment to keep reading.

He reminisced of the old days when he would receive reports about how Titan Breaker Makarov and Mad Rush Rob had destroyed a diplomatic building while fending off rogue assassins. He got quite an earful from the magic council about how the ambassador to Ca-Elum was asking for their heads. And how they had to make up for the action by escorting the diplomatic family and ensuring their safety. They were almost free of all charges until Bob had gotten frisky with both the daughter and the son of the ambassador. The whole team is still banned from any contact or travel into the foreign nation.

Ah, he almost missed those past days of ignorance and joy.

Almost.

Now, he had a goal that no foolish dream or pathetic guild would stop. Not the Magic Council, not Damnation, not even Fairy Tail would stop him. And it all started from using these idiots as a distraction from the magic council. They were just fodder to the flames his dream was making. But these fools were making too much ruckus in the underworld when they should be quiet. He was planning to eradicate the half built tower where it stood, killing all the cult members and slaves in an instant. It was easy with the Jupiter cannon they had recently taken. All of his problems would be gone in a flash.

But then, he looked down at the file of the boy he had recently discovered. In the pile of folders and sheets he had pulled out the one that piqued his interest the most. How surprising that in the cell Rob shared with some whiskered trash and a worthless redhead, there would be just what he was looking for. He looked at the picture of a small, blue-haired child with a tattoo around his right eye. He then proceeded to read the information that followed.

Jellal Fernandes

Age: 11

Birthday: January 15, X765

Location: Freesia Town

Family: Parents killed in raid by cult members.

Erza felt her heart clench, at that moment she knew what was going to happen, her friend would suffer just as much in that world too.

Across the room, silence came back with full force.

Jellal Fernandes was a very sore subject because on one side he represented everything the Guild fought hard against, and on the other he was Erza's best friend to the point many would believe they were lovers. It really was a mess, no matter how you look at it

However, that was cut short when Naruto registered the offense against his person.

"Who are you calling trash you old hag lying backstabbing son of a bitch," said the young kage.

How dare he, an old fart, call him trash. He was the definition of success, handsomeness and above all power.

"Yea, don't forget, he called Erza worthless too," cried Happy

The blond blinked a few times before snapping his fingers, 'Of course, he was a pedophile with a little boy fetish!' Who else would find Erza a worthless redhead, in this case he was lucky.

"Actually I am trash for his standards," he said with what seemed… relief?

The blue cat blinked. 'What the hell…?'

Seeing his 'What the hell?!' look the blond continued "He is into young boys."

The cat gave him yet another confused look

"This old perv is obviously only interested in him for some sick pleasure."

Well, that was weird for most of the occupants of the room aside from Gildarts and Cana who were laughing at the blond assumption.

The idea of Hades chasing little boys for that reason was despicable but funny.

Erza shook her head, the blond could be really stupid sometimes, he reminded her of a younger Natsu, aside from the shiver that went down her spine as she tough of a pedophilic Hades, it almost made her comfortable, but only took a glance at the book for it to return.

That horrible feeling that was always present when she remembered the worst day of her life.

Taking a deep breath to keep her feelings under control she gave a small laugh as she heard Naruto saying something about 'a lot of young boys will be able to sleep safely in their beds now.

Child shows vast intelligence and will for young age. He gives strong signs of latent magical power. Has large supply of Eternano encircling body at most times, but is incapable of using at the moment. Evidence of escape plans found. Possible Threat in the future.

This boy in the file was quite the diamond in the rough. Abilities and smarts, with an attitude that made even some of the jailers fear him.

If he could use this boy to his liking, then he may be able to further his plans in searching for the keys of Zeref. All he would need is a moment of weakness to control the boy's outlook on the world. But he would have to be contained and trained properly if he was going to be useful.

Hades smirked as he thought of asking Brain to train this boy in spells and magic. The shaman scientist was leaving the dark guilds under his control to run wilder than usual. He was in search of children with high potential to be his teammates, so he hadn't been in the leading position of the guilds for very long. But if Hades gave him some of the children with talent from the tower, he could use that as a favor to train this boy.

Naruto almost blasted the hologram, he really was starting to hate that man, Hades. This was his name he was a mixture of Orochimaru and Danzo, the snake and the old bastard were always in look of young talents to serve their desires.

If that man had his eyes on that boy, he meant trouble, because people like him destroyed everything around them.

The life of Jellal just became way more complicated.

But that also meant that his and Erza's counterpart would be affected too.

He liked to see his counterpart happy and with a lot of friends.

While at the moment this was probably one of the quarters of Hell, he had friends for life.

It reminded him of his friends back home, Jellal displayed the intelligence of Shikamaru and the will of a warrior like Sasuke.

He could just wish they would be safe...

The mages were in the same position they all had heard what happened to Jellal. Those who were part of the tower when Erza confronted the blue-haired mage.

They saw how drained mentally and physically the armor-clad mage was, she even sobbed afterward.

They hope things would go better for Erza, enemy or not Jellal was her friend no matter what he had done.

Wendy looked especially sad, while that wasn't the Jellal she knew, she had played an important role in his suffering, some would say that death was an act of mercy for someone who lived like him, she had literally taken away that mercy when she resurrected him, sometimes she did wonder if she did right by resurrect him.

Hades smirked as he thought of asking Brain to train this boy in spells and magic. The shaman scientist was leaving the dark guilds under his control to run wilder than usual. He was in search of children with high potential to be his teammates, so he hadn't been in the leading position of the guilds for very long. But if Hades gave him some of the children with talent from the tower, he could use that as a favor to train this boy.

"Master Hades, some more ships are coming up from the horizon. They must be doing their Bi-monthly drop off of slaves and meals." A foot soldier said while he rested on one knee in front of the old wizard. "Should we keep our position over the clouds of the tower my lord?"

"An airship, fascinating," said the blond with a nod of his head, if that vessel was the base of operations he would be difficult to keep track of his movements, much like Orochimaru did always on the move, never in the same place for long

"I know right," said Levy as she almost drooled when the hologram showed the grimoire heart airship.

""Yes, keep us hidden. I do not wish to be bothered by those fools." Hades detested when he had to listen to the reports from the cult master. He had held back so many times on flicking his wrist and blowing the man up that he would soon believe himself to be a saint. As Hades daydreamed of the idea of killing that insufferable; annoying sack of shit, another soldier placed himself next to the first one.

"Master Hades, we have reports of the project you were working on with the Tartaros guild."

"Is this tartarus another one of those dark guilds?" asked Naruto to no one in particular

"Yes the worst of them all" answer the top model as she leaned forward, smiling she winked at the blond "but nothing with couldn't handle"

Smiling he nodded his head and waited for Erza to proceed.

"He said that he is willing to cooperate and give you access to the Heart sir, but not fully." The soldier looked upend panicked to see that Hades was losing patience and was becoming irritated. "W-what I mean sir is that Tartaros wishes to run a test trial with the eye link magic before giving us the weapon permanently."

"Ah, I see." Hades nodded and turned back around to look down at the tower from the observation deck. "He wishes to test my abilities with a prototype eye before giving me the actual product." Hades chuckled at the blatant underestimating the dark guild was giving him, "Well tell them I will attend the surgery in a few days' time." He dismissed the two soldiers who vacated the deck, leaving the old man to walk back and sit in his chair. 'Hopefully with this new magic system, I won't have to worry about my body taking too much damage anymore.'

Hades settled back into his chair before opening his eye at the new presence. He turned his head to see a young, raven haired girl with pale skin in a custom made uniform looking at him with a questioning look. "What can I do for you today Ultear" he asked as he positioned himself to get a better look at the girl.

"I've been trying to ask you for several days now why we have come to this place." The young thirteen year old marched in front of him and placed her hands on her hips. "You promised to help me work with the Arc of Time some more, but all you have been doing is standing here and watching the water. Help me already!" Hades scoffed and swiped his hand to motion that he was barely listening. The girl grew angry and with a pout raised her hands and rotted the throne beneath him, causing him to fall on his butt.

Hades stood back up and dusted his cape and ass, "Well aren't we angry. Are you going through that time of the month, Ultear?" He questioned as the girl's face grew darkly vacant and the air around her grew ice cold. "Well I can't teach you just yet, we are waiting for now."

"For what exactly, Hades-sama?" She said as she joined his side looking down at the tower. "All we have done for the last two days is watch this tower and see the wave's crash. Are you just going senile?" She said with sarcastic words at the almost century old man/teacher.

"No my dear, we are waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself to us." The young lady looked up at her master with an inquisitive look. "I happen to know that there is a boy in that tower who is exactly who we need. He will try to make a move to run away because he is the type that hates to be chained down, but I'm going to guess that he will fail. And when the time comes that we can make our move, I'll need your help to strike." He turned to her with a dark smile, "If this works, it will bring us one step closer to the Ultimate Magic World."

How humans could fall so low he would never understand, he was no stranger in manipulating the world around him, but he never did it to harm others. Well unless you were his enemy.

He wasn't a saint. Far from it, but even he would feel like scum for doing half of the things that man had done.

Just like orochimaru he would do anything to achieve his prize even if that meant violate his body.

And like Danzo, he would destroy lives with the excuse of a greater good.

Naruo never was one to judge, because he believed a man of flesh and blood should combine something just as flawed as he was, but if that man were to appear in front of him, he would reduce the former Guildmaster to ashes. Of all crimes, he had committed he never harmed another person the way the old bastard seemed to do so casually.

Across the room, someone faces were dominant aside from Naruto who kept a neutral expression the others couldn't hide their feelings.

They knew that something bad had happened to the Jellal but seeing what was about to happen and be unable to do anything to help him was devastating especially for Erza, who was being forced to experience all over again.

Makarov despite the sadness of watching the man he once called master act with such lack of morals was happy to see he maintain the kindness he possessed on his days as guild master.

Ultear looked surprised at the notion of her master was giving. She looked down at his hand that held a file which she took it and looked inside. She saw the photo of the blue haired boy and his summary by the jailers. She smiled at the face of the cute boy and giggled.

She lowered the file and saw several others that caught her eye. She flipped through the files of the others that were lying on the table when she found one that caught her eye.

"I wonder who the… " Cana withheld of her teasing from her teasing by her father. Who gave her an unusual stern look that could be easily interpreted to (don't) she gave a small whine but Obeid. it wasn't the best moment for entertainment.

Gildarts gave her daughter a firm nod, then a small smile found his lips, the brat really had a way with girls. He wishes he had met the boy earlier.

"Man I don't know what so great about him anyway?" whispered Wakaba

"It must be the blond hair and blue eyes." Macao whispered back.

"If we were to go by that logic, Laxus should have been the reincarnation of Giacomo Casanova," said Macao in a sarcastic tone

"Yeah you are right the only person Laxus seems to seduce was Freed" both men shivered.

Cana shook her head as he overheard her friends, they were looking for the answers in the wrong place.

She opened it to see a file photo of a blonde boy with blue eyes that she thought looked right through her. What had caught her eye the most were his whisker marks that gave him the look of a fox with those vicious eyes. She gazed down at his summary...

Naruto Uzumaki

Age: 12

Birthday: October 10, X764

Location: Unknown. Body found in desert by Akane Beach.

Family: Unknown.

The child was found by the road of one of our caravan routes. Does not correspond with orders and most information is taken as a guess about him. He appears to have no magic or latent abilities that we can measure, but does have some unnatural force strengthening him. He is violent and strong, and always ready to attack a jailer if they aren't looking. Potentially dangerous. Consider Executing.

The blond in question huffed as if it would have been that easy.

"Oh, he is cute." Ultear said as she ran a finger over his profile photo.

That was it for the duo of Macao and Wakaba, both of them marched towards Naruto and gave him a challenging glare.

"How in the blue hell are you doing it ?" asked/Demanded both of them at the same time.

Naruto raised his arms in a defensive manner "what can Isay the charm is part of my… well, charm."

Laughs and giggles followed the duo as they dragged their corpses to their seats, with their ego shattered by the blonde's apparent success with the female population.

"Hades-sama, what about him? He seems like he could be useful."

Hades shook his head,

"No, not him. We have no way of controlling this boy. And from the reports and footage I've seen, he is a textbook example of a problem child."

"But I always thought you had a thing for problem children." She said as she held the file over her mouth like a fan, hiding her cheeky smile.

"So did we," said the Readers.

Isn't that why you picked me?"

"Not for a child who would kill me if I looked at him wrong." He said as he realized he had not given her his gift yet. He reached into a pocket in his cape and pulled out a teal orb which he handed to her. "Here, take this." Ultear took the orb and looked at the new present strangely.

Those who had fought Ultear shivered as they remembered how painful those things could be.

"What is this?"

Natsu and Gray felt they're spine-tingling as they said simultaneously " the devil" causing most to sweatdropped at their antics.

"That is a magical item that I believe you will have much use for. It can be used to relay messages to me and others. You can use that as a vision lacrima to view those you wish to spy on. And also, it is the perfect weapon for you to use with your Arc of Time." He said with an overconfident smile at his brilliant plan.

Ultear looked at the ball and decided to play out her teenage attitude. "You got me a ball. Wow, great job."

Makarov, Gildarts, Wakaba, and Macao started to giggle like schoolgirls, Naruto could have sworn that he saw Jiraya among them

"Oh, what I wouldn't have done to give you some balls," said Gildarts with a massive grim and blood coming out of his nose.

The rest of them nodded their heads vigorously, but they were interrupted by overwhelming pain.

Makarov was blasted away by a violent torrent of wind and Erza's Holy Hammer.

Gildarts was curled in a ball holding his stomach where his daughter elbowed him.

Wakaba and Macao were shivering as they saw two demons walking toward them one had a smile that would make even Orochimaru piss his pants (or skirt I really don't know) and the other was a small cat who had nails so sharp that reflected the light on it.

Macao put a serious face as he held his hands motion to stop, he took a piece of paper and proceeded to write on it.

After a couple of minutes he walked towards the almost conscious guild master and gave and put the paper on his pockets.

Summoning all his will power he faced the two creatures and nodded. After four minutes of EXTREME pain, he found bliss in the darkness that surrounded him.

Wendy Marvel never thought that reading could be so exhausted, but then again she was a member of Fairy Tail, everything was possible in this guild. She turned the side to see an apologetic Carla cleaning the sweat out of her forehead.

It would have been a long one hour until she was done healing all of them.

"Wow, Ultear, just wow. That hurts. That hurts me right in my old heart."

Hunter

Rob had been worried as he returned to the cell. Over the last week, the kids had seemed quite strange in their actions. Naruto had healed from all his wounds from protecting Shō but he didn't play as much. He would just sit around with Jellal and talk for awhile. And after Rob went to bed, he could swear that they got together to talk about something.

And today, the kids had been very nervous and wary about something. Like they knew that today was a big day. Rob walked into his cell and yawned, and then noticed that the group of kids wasn't there yet. He had decided to wait for them and leaned against the wall. He could tell by the sunset about an hour ago that it was a least seven o'clock. And they should have come back by now.

After several long moments of waiting Rob grew scared and worried. The children were never this late; even if they were forced to crawl they would have returned by now. Rob then realized what was different about today. This morning he had noticed that the boats had come in and brought new slaves. Which means that they were leaving with the new materials sometime in the afternoon tomorrow.

Rob grew pale as he dashed for the bars and started to pull on them, hoping that they would miraculously open. He had grown so old and tired that his body was just a husk of what it was. He had grown weak again after so long. And now when he needed that strength to protect them, he couldn't muster it.

It really was sad to see the fall of a legend.

Rob lifted his head and prayed that they weren't trying to escape. Because that was all he could do anymore.

Just pray.

Hunter

The central work room was empty, only the tools of the works and the gravel from their work were there. Jailers were leaving the area and doing their rounds around the tower. As they thought that no one was still around.

As everyone left, seven small shadows crept out from behind the materials around the room. They all rounded up together and followed the shortest figure to the end of the hall. They all arrived at the end, where the barrels, rocks and wheelbarrows gathered at the end of the rail tracks. The small figure walked forward and moved some rubble, revealing the gate covered hole.

The readers lined forward as the climax of the chapter approached.

The escape of those seven was an event that affected all of those present directly or indirectly.

It would appear that in that place it would be even more.

"Okay, this is it." Shō said as he turned on his knees to look up at everyone, wiping the sweat from his brow. "This is the tunnel."

Simon walked forward and looked into the long trench. "It's smaller than I thought it would be." He looked at the small boy "Are you sure this is it."

"Maybe is because you are a freaking giant ?" suggested Natsu

Simon indeed was quite muscular for his age.

"Of course I'm sure, I found it, remember."

"Alright, alright that's enough guys." They turned around and saw Naruto standing up to get their attention. "Even if it is a tight fit, we have to use this. Shō said it worked so I trust him." He looked at the little boy who smiled up at him.

Naruto smiled at his other self, he always liked to be in charge of the situations.

Especially when in dangerous situations like this, granting the safety of his comrades was a duty that he always prioritized. And was very satisfied with what he was seeing so far.

"Good job mini me. Always protect your precious people." thought the kage.

"Alright, one last time, listen to Jellal about our plan."

Erza sign in relief, a gesture that was copied by all present aside for Naruto who gave them a questioned look.

Catching his gaze Levy explains.

"No offense Naruto but your counterpart is a little dense in terms of strategies leaving Jellal in charge of planning is more beneficial in the long term," she said it measuring every word not to offend the blond, as she saw earlier in the book upsetting a Kage wasn't a good thing to do.

Naruto was slightly irritated with the blunt understatement of his intellect.

"You can't really blame then if it wasn't for Sarutobi you have would've been more like your mother, " said the tailed beast

Naruto gave him a puzzled look as he thought about what Kurama had said.

If Hiruzen hadnt take him under his wing he would be all alone. He was aware that the majority of people treated him as prince when he was young with the sole intent of winning his favor and of the Sarutobi clan to some extent.

He smiled lightly, "I wonder how that would have been"

"Knowing you, you would have been a ramen addict, orange wearing loud mouthed brat talking nonsense about being Hogake."

"How do you know that?" asked the kage making the fox laugh

"That was what your mother did."

Jellal walked up to them and they all got into a huddle. "Alright, the ships bring in a new batch of captured slaves every two months. It takes about a day and a half in the dock. It brings in the slaves and takes back rations and weapons to use in their hunt for more people. The ship came in at six this morning and will leave at six in the afternoon tomorrow. We are going to travel in the tunnel until we reach the bottom near the dock. Then we sneak onto ship and lay low until we arrive at land."

"Hmm, a typical French exit it could work," said Naruto

"Yes but I doubt it," said Makarov

"Why do you say that old man" asked Natsu. He was curious why it wouldn't work it just crawls for a few hours and boom they are free right.

"Because no matter how strong they resolve is, their body may not keep up." Makarov finished with a disappointing sight. While he was sure Erza would make it he didn't know about the others

"Naruto what is a French exit," asked Wendy

" in Portugal and Brazil, they use the term French exit to refer to a discrete exit"

"Where is Portugal," asked Natsu

"And Brazil," asked Happy

The blond shureged "i don't know"

Wally smiled and started to pump his fists, "Then we call the magic corps and they arrest these bastards."

That seemed like a solid plan. For most of the guild that is. After all, most of the members were more focused on the assault part for those like Makarov, Mavis, Levy, and Macao who knew that there would be a complication.

In the theory is always easy but when is the time for the real shit. Let's just say it stinks bad.

Naruto smiled and laughed. "Alright, we are doing this at night because we wouldn't be able to get away from work if we did it in the day. Hopefully these assholes won't notice our absence long enough for us to hide and run." He took a long breath and stood up straight.

"Alright, let's do this."

Cheers erupted from the room, finally after four long chapters, and they hoped the fifth would give then what they so much deserved:

The freedom of those poor slaves.

The titania finding her home in fairy tail.

And above all a better grammar.

They all nodded and made a line to go into the tunnel. Shō was about to go in first but noticed that Erza had frozen in place. He turned around and addressed his sister, "Nee-San come on. Hurry!"

Erza nearly scolded her younger counterpart. She was everything she loathed the most. Because she was the reflection of her fears and her weakness.

Wally hissed at the young boy, "Shut up Shō! They'll hear you if you talk that loud!

Milliana started wisely at the older boy, "Wally, you're talking louder."

Wally was shocked in horror before lowering his head in shame. Simon got down and next to the tunnel.

"Erza, we have to go or we'll be caught by those guys." He tried to persuade the scarlet girl who trembled in absolute fear.

The members of fairy tail and kage gave the scarlet woman a sympathetic look.

For most of them, it was strange to see the knight so scarred, sure they had seen her in that position before, but even in those moments, the aura of confidence and power that surrounded her was always present.

Gone was the queen and all that was left was the coward present in every child.

"If they find us, th-they'll do to us what they did to the others. A-and-" She grew dark and fearful look in her eyes until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Jellal next to her, giving her a thoughtful smile while Naruto stood behind him.

A heavy aura set on the room as flames started flick around Naruto as he looked at the hologram, it was like he could feel her fear. the image of a scared Erza was like a slap to his face, it was like he was failing in his most important duty.

However, one thing on the back of his mind was clear no matter the cost if someone laid a hand on that woman he would destroy them.

And that was a promise of a lifetime.

"It's okay. Don't be afraid." She turned around and stopped trembling. "We're almost out of here. Our freedom and dreams are right through that tunnel. Let's go!" He said as he almost dived into the hole, leading the group by searching in front for a good escape route. The others nodded and followed his example.

Erza had stopped trembling but had kept her worried face on. She wanted to go say goodbye to Rob-jisan and ask him for help but it was too late. She was conflicted until she felt Naruto grab her hand and pulled her. She looked up at him to see that he had a thoughtful smile, understanding her fear and worry at the risk they were taking. "It's alright Erza. We're all in this together and they won't be able to stop us. Besides," he turned his head and gave her a giant grin, "We have each other's back, right?" Erza looked at him with wide eyes before she grew confident and smiled back; a light pink hue dusted her cheeks.

"That's right as long as we have each other no one will harm you, I promise," said Naruto as he glanced at the redhead woman.

Erza couldn't muster the words to express herself, she could feel her cheeks getting warm. She just stood there smiling.

"You better keep this promise or else you have an entire guild in your ass," said Natsu getting nods from all the guild members

Naruo smiled and nodded, he always fulfilled his promises.

Naruto went in next as Erza followed going last, leaving the work way once again completely silent.

Hunter

Jellal had felt his elbows and knees had been scratched to hell after several hours of crawling. They had been passed many exits and tunnels after their trek. Each one leads to a room, empty cell, the main hall or a hallway. Jellal wiped his forehead and looked behind him. Shō and Wally were panting and seemed exhausted, feeling restricted in the small passageway. Behind him Milliana was panting deeply and Simon was lightly sweating, his natural stamina helping him through the ordeal. And finally Naruto and Erza were faring the best. Both tired but appeared ready to continue.

When they passed a watch room, Jellal saw that the time was about eleven o'clock. They had been crawling for nearly 4 hours. And they still had a long way to go. They were moving fairly slowly as to stop any suspicious feeling a jailer got when they moved past. The bright side was that none of the jailers had even noticed that the kids were moving in the vent like tunnel. All they had to do was endure the exhaustion and they would be freed.

"This plan just revealed his weakness," Naruto said in an unfulfilled tone, he knew that the little blond boy and the cat maniac would have great hardships because of their physical fitness. He was sure that others would have no problem.

"Milli-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked the little girl in front of him who was wobbling from exhaustion. She nodded her head with lidded eyes as she pitched forward. They continued until Naruto whispered a question, "Any idea how much further Jellal?"

Jellal shook his head and continued moving until they reached a rest place for the jailers. Several of the cult members had gathered around to discuss what they had done today. Laughing at the fun they had torturing anyone who bothered them.

By the name of whatever deity that existed on that godforsaken place, the way the book portrays that place, it made Orochimaru laboratories look like if they were a church, honestly that's just too much, there is cruelty in man but the way the book seemed to place it was like a mixture of evil and twisted fate.

Doesn't make sense right?

The book took that evil to a new level. He was like he had put that thing on the magnifying glass. It made them look so evil that he could mistake them to demons.

Not to mention that he went completely against their goal, that was a perfect world where none have to suffer, take pleasure in that suffering was a sin.

One thing was to force children and adults to work in hard conditions and incarcerated, another thing completely different from is torture and find it enjoyable.

The children all shook with anger from the hurtful actions the men were taking great pride in. They endured the laughs and taunts the men had told until the sound of footsteps approaching reached their ears.

"I want to fry them," said Natsu as he shook with anger

"Yeah I feel you," said Gray

Honestly, this book was starting to get on everyone's nerves.

(A/N: I almost smashed my phone in the wall twice while reading this story.)

"What are you idiots doing?" A harsh voice yelled rashly at the previously snickering bastard guards. The men had sounded off and stood at attention,

trying to gain face again in front of their boss. "The master said that we are on a tight schedule. If we miss our quota, Master Hades will have our asses!" He said with no room for argument."

"But sir, all we have been doing is loading the ships with weapons and cargo. What else could we do?"

"You could watch out for some of those slaves. We don't want a repeat of what happened eight years ago. That little bastard from last week still makes my scar ache." Another voice interrupted the questioning. Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the notice of the voice belonging to the bitch that attacked Shō last week. That man had been watching him over the last week, threatening to attack in retaliation for the still healing scar on his face. Naruto snickered at the self-satisfying pride he had in making a grown man paranoid.

"A shame he didn't kill him," said Natsu coldly getting a nod from Naruto

"I agree I should have killed him," said Naruto with voice bitter voice.

"Can we please stop with this kill conversation?" said Lucy, sure all of them wanted to do it but that doesn't mean they should openly talk about it.

"Sure, what else do you want to talk about child trafficking or child labor exploitation?" asked Natsu

Lucy said nothing in response as Erza's voice cut her before she could gather the will to answer her fellow mage response.

"Silence boy, we don't need to take your personal vengeance at a little brat's actions to heart." The soldier backed down before the leader of the jailers turned back to the rest of the men. "But he is right, eight years ago we were slacking and it destroyed this tower and set us back on finishing. We have a duty and promise to complete this tower. We have been given a great chance by Hades-sama to bring back our lord Zeref. He has helped us make this tower and the master will not be happy to hear that his followers are loitering around like pansies."

The men grumbled in acceptance and started moving out. The children started moving again after taking a break and listening to the conversation outside. Naruto crawled forward with his mind wandering on what they had said. Someone named Hades was making all of this possible. He had headed this tower's construction and had given these men a means to torture and kill them. Naruto clenched he hands in the dirt and stared off at the decision he had just made. If he would ever meet this man, this Hades that had made this tower possible. He would make that man beg for forgiveness, even if it killed him.

"Make it slow and painful for him. Thought the Kage.

"How could you" taught Makarov with a somber expression on his face, how is it possible for someone to be so cruel. And even worse, how could he not realize the true nature of Hades. Yes, Hades that man was not his master he refused to even acknowledge that man as a member of a fairy tail.

Mavis rubbed the elder's shoulders affectionately as she too felt the same thing.

The rest of the guild members went silent.

The image of Hades burned on Natsu's head his fist clenched tightly.

As they continued they stopped again as Milliana and Shō had started to sway back and forth. They had reached their limits after so much work in a confined space, their hands and knees bleeding from the travel. They both passed out and fell to the ground, causing a thumping noise to echo through the escape route and out the openings. The jailers had stopped their retreat back to work and listened to the noise in the walls.

"Well, the French exit didn't work." Naruto said with a sight. Now their chance has reduced greatly from what forty percent to thirteen.

"They will have to fight their way out," said Levy "The chances of success are very low."

'Shit' Jellal thought as he tried to keep Shō conscious. Wally and Simon did the same for Milliana as she panted heavily

"What was that?" A jailer said to his fellow cult members. The leader lifted his hand to order silence from his followers. He slowly stepped to the walls and placed his ear to it, hoping to hear something move through the concrete. He heard more noise and brought his attention closer to the floor, where a man made ventilation system's great was. He lowered himself and put his ear closer to the grate, hearing the sounds of stumbling and shuffling ring out through the rock.

"There are slaves in the vents! They're trying to escape." He yelled out getting the attention of all the nearby jailers and alerting the escaping slaves. Naruto cursed as he screamed out to move. All of them crawled as fast as they could; ignoring the scratches and cuts their hands were gaining as they moved through the passage. Simon cradled Milliana and Wally carried Shō. The jailer roared as he aimed his spear at the vent opening and let out a large fireball, causing an explosion and smoke to rise.

The smoke traveled through the entire shaft, blocking the children's view and clogging their lungs. Erza yelped in pain. "Erza, what's wrong?" Naruto yelled panicking at the pain his friend could be in. Erza looked down and through the smoke could see her feet were burnt and smoking, getting affected by the heat from the attack. They tried to move forward but they couldn't, their vision was clouded and lungs were burning from breathing in the toxic gas. Jellal continued forward, trying to find a safe way out until he saw an opening.

He turned to the shaft, the kid's following behind as they saw his shadow move. Jellal pushed on the grate and had no luck moving. He moved in the space and kicked against the metal, getting it to dislodge. The covering finally fell open as he crawled out into a similar work path, covered in soot and coughing violently. He turned around and helped Wally bring out the barely conscious Shō before helping the dark haired boy. After a fit of coughs they then helped Simon with Milliana before pulling out Naruto. He coughed for only a moment before standing back up and pulling out Erza, her feet stinging as she was helped to the floor. "Are yo-*cough* you okay?" The blond boy asked through his coughing, getting an approving nod from the scarlet haired girl.

The group stayed like that, checking on each other as they dislodged the dirt and soot from their throats and lungs. They finally took in some deep breaths before they heard footsteps from down the hall, "Quickly! I think they are over there." The children froze in fear as they realized that the jailers were closing in on them.

They then broke apart and hid out of sight wherever they could. Wally, Milliana, and Simon ducked behind a pile of stacked lumber. Erza grabbed Shō and leaded him to behind several barrels, hugging the terrified boy in fear. Jellal and Naruto ran behind some rubble, around them some working tools and rocks.

"I have a feeling that things are about to get bloody" Elfman whispered to his sister

Mirajane nodded, it seemed that everything in that book ended with blood.

A few seconds after they had hidden themselves, shadows started to grow on the floor, symbolizing that the men were growing closer. They waited in breathed silence as the figures started to come into sight. The grown men were not pleased, if the angered expressions on their faces were any indication.

They viewed the area in front of them and found no slaves, just an open vent with smokestill floating out. Most of them were preparing to leave before the leader raised his hand to stop. He gave them a look that said that the escapees were still here and they should move forward. The guards moved forward and noticed that there were small movements behind some of the objects. The men chuckled darkly as they had found the slaves. They all moved in formation and slowly crept toward them.

A smirk appeared on Naruto's lips it was finally time to kill some guards. While he would prefer that their stealth exit worked. He had nothing against killing some guards in the way.

He wanted out of this place, another dimension or not he was not about to let some fuckers rule his life.

He liked his freedom, that and the fact that his other was yet to taste the wonder that was ramen.

"Now, now kiddies there are no reasons to hide. We're not going to hurt you, we just want to talk" one of the jailers lied as he stalked forward, spear in hand. "We just want to talk to you. We want to know why you would run from us?" He stopped moving and grinned evilly as he noticed figures cower behind a group of barrels. Erza and Shō clutched each other as they felt the malevolent presence creep toward them.

Naruto and Jellal looked around the rubble and noticed that most of the men were going toward Erza and Shō. Jellal's breath hitched as he feared the worst, not knowing what he could do at this point. He slowly turned his head and saw Naruto tremble not in fear but in unbridled rage, his teeth clenching so hard his gums were close to bleeding. "Naruto?" Jellal asked his friends in a voice barely even considered a whisper.

Naruto slowly turned his head to look at Jellal, his eyes obviously conveying worry for his friends. He turned his head to look down at the rubble and calmed down. "Hey Jellal," Naruto asked his friend who was looking at Naruto, "I know it is stupid to try to fight these guys. But with everything that is happening and our position we can't do anything else. I don't want them to suffer because I got impatient. And besides..." He lifted his head and looked at Jellal with eyes that showed strong determination even in the current predicament' "I don't think we have a choice but to be stupid, right?" He finished as chuckled lightly. Jellal looked at him and smiled weakly.

"Well said mini-me there are times when the lack of options is the options," said the Naruto proudly as he looks at his counterpart.

"Yeah" Natsu and Gajeel cried as they raised their fists through the air.

"Remember all those stories Rob-jisan told us, when we run out of options, all you can do is fight." They both nodded as they turned their attention back to the men steadily moving toward their friends. They steeled themselves and reached out their hands, grabbing the excavation tools around them.

"I think we should skip this part" Suggested Carla

"No way now they are finally getting in the best part" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs, now he was going to see some action after a long while and he wasn't going to let interfere.

"Shut up you brute, you realize that fights on that book are always such a bloody mess." yelled the cat.

"And what's wrong with that," said Natsu with indifference

His answer, however, stunned his fellow guildmates.

"Natsu don't say those things so casually" reprimand Erza.

"I don't understand you guys. Is not like you don't want to see those bastards missing their heads," said the salamander

Erza went silent. She would be lying if she said she didn't want to see them suffer.

"Wendy I suggest we leave this room immediately" Carla whispered to the Sky dragon slayer

But the Marvel shook her head "no Carla it's ok. What can be the worst that could happen, and besides it's not like we haven't been in war."

Nodding in the white cat sat down while she was skeptical to let wendy to be exposed to such kind of violence, she understood that she was growing up.

"Now if you just come with us, we promise not to hurt you." The man finally reached the barrels and peered over them, seeing the form of two huddled figures against the wooden object. "Gotch- huh?" He lifted his head to see what the sudden noise was.

He was met with the form of a flying blond that had vaulted off a pile of rubble. He had a pick-axe in his hands that was reeled behind him in a prepared swing. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and had heated eyes set on the jailer. The man grew a cold sweat as the boy's shadow enveloped him. "HAA!" The boy swung the axe in an arc into the man face, crushing the man's nose and piercing his face until pressured blood erupted from the new orifice.

The hidden slaves and jailers all stared in shock as the boy killed the jailer approaching his friends. He landed and removed the pick from his face, a feeling of disgust washing his mouth as he steeled himself again. He charged forward and swung the pick again, crushing and destroying a shocked jailer's knee. He reeled back and swung again, causing the jailers to momentarily retreat. They stepped back before moving forward again but heard another noise. Behind them another jailer had his skull crushed by a tattooed boy with a shovel. The boy removed the shovel and charged with his friend, beating and killing several shocked jailers.

A twisted satisfaction formed on their minds. Somehow the little demonstration of cruelty by the slaves brought some sense of justice for them.

While none of them would be admitted he felt VERY good every time Naruto and others would attack the guards

Pleasure, satisfaction or cruelty does not matter the name nobody was immune to those feelings and often more than 'civilized people would admit they would come together.

The men backed off as the boys fought back, taking revenge on all abuse and pain they had felt over the many years. The boys made the men retreat in fear before they were hit by two large fireballs. The boys were sent flying back, their shirts burnt and smoke coming off their bodies. The boys flew back and bounced off the floor, coughing up spit and blood. They looked up to see the leader of the jailers glaring at them, the scarred cult member snickering behind him. He approached them and stood between their fallen bodies, changing his sight between the two of them. He lifted his leg and kicked Naruto in the gut, causing the boy to buckle in and cough up blood. Jellal tried to retaliate only to be kicked in the stomach as well, causing him to throw up. As the two were stunned by the pain, the man tapped his spear on the floor and an electrical current attacked both the boys.

He turned to his men, the electricity still covering the boys, and motioned them to move forward. They followed his example and reached behind the wood and building equipment. They found several slave children all scared and trembling, trying to escape the grasp of the harsh jailers grip. They were thrown near the center of the path, where the two previously electric covered boys were now lying. They all looked up and shook at the looks of pure hatred and disdain the cult followers were giving them. Naruto tried to stand back up but was stopped as a booted foot belonging to the scarred jailer pushed on his back.

"We can't let this go unpunished." The head jailer said as he looked at the quivering children. He looked between all of them and then toward the two boys on the floor. "I would ask who it was that directed this sad attempt, but I feel like I know who it was." He kneeled down and roughly grabbed the hair of the two boys and lifted them, stoically gazing at the both of them. "Now, which one of you started this?" Jellal growled in pure contempt at the old man while Naruto spit in his face. He breathed in slowly before fiercely smacking their heads back into the ground, causing them to gasp in pain. "We're going to have to punish these brats for insolence." He turned to the other men and lifted the children by their hair and threw them at the members who caught the boys and restrained them.

He slowly turned to the other children. He lowered himself and looked the red haired girl in the eye, "You will never leave this place. These pathetic attempts will only get you killed." She welled up and quivered in place in front of the man. He stood up and turned around, passing his followers and referred back to the men. "Those children will not be fed or nourished for several days as punishment for their insolence. As for these two," he looked at the boys who had lifted their damaged heads to glare at the leader. He turned back around and made and evil smirk, "we'll put them in the detention center for a while. See if that teaches them."

" Erza did this really happened when you were in the tower," asked Mirajane horrified.

The redheaded woman shook her head " yes but not like this while they were cruel they never seemed to take joy in punishing the slaves" Sure they tortured them both physically and mentally but it was all about keeping them in line, not for the fun of it.

Mirajane gave a small nod as she tightened her grip on her brother's harm. compared to Erza she had it easy. While her torment was most psychologically Erza had to experience both that and physically.

Erza and the others paled at the treatment chosen for their friends. She stood up, ignoring the ghost pain remaining from the singed skin, and tried to grab her friends' hands. She was abruptly stopped and thrown back with the others. She saw them drag her friends into the hallway, tears spilling for her eyes.

Naruto noticed that she had looked at him while he was being carried off. He knew that nothing good ever happened to slaves taken to the detention cells. They were broken and beaten when they came back out, mere husks of what they once were. And he knew that she was going to worry about him and Erza. He lifted his head and got her attention, having a faint smirk on his face that silently relayed a message to her.

'I'll be fine. Don't worry.'

She just knew that if he could speak then, he would try to say something like that. But she just knew that that was a lie. She silently cried as she and her friends were led back to their cell. She felt great shame and fear that she had just let her friends get taken away. She silently regretted in pain as she tried to think of what she could have done.

She wished she could have helped them. She didn't want to be this weak anymore.

" don't worry it would take way more than that to put me down," Naruto said, glancing at the Erza.

"You shouldn't have too, I was the one who should have done something, instead of helping you and jellal I just stayed there hidden like a coward," said Erza

" it's normal to be scared," said Naruto

"You are also a child but you seemed to handle it just fine"

"It's diff.."

"No, it's not if I was stronger than I could have done something besides crying"

The blond paused as he noticed some tears in her eyes, it seemed that the woman liked to jump in the front lines, not because of the glory but because she had a need to protect.

"Look you can't always protect the people you love, sometimes things just don't go as you wish," Naruto said as he reached for her hands

"The weight of the world fall on your shoulder just because can bear it. You are not responsible for their suffering"

"Besides" Naruto held her and gave her a smile. "I swear you'll be stuck with me for a lot longer than that."

She smiled back, even she felt guilty for not being able to do more to help her friends, she now understood that no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't be able to do much good the best thing they could do right now, was to learn from their mistakes and keep trying.

Rob waited in fearful silence as the hours passed. It was now close to midnight and the children were still gone. He had heard rumors passed by the jailers that said that some slaves had tried to escape. He tried to control his rapid, worried heart at the possibility that the children may be dead. He remembered the first escape attempt eight years ago that had resulted in the tower almost being destroyed. He remembered the couple that seemed so confident and powerful, and had trusted him with the most important promise of his life. He did not hear from the couple again, believing that the pair had possibly escaped from the tower or may have been killed. He prayed every day after that night that they would still be alive. Because he could not bear the idea of telling her what happened.

Rob heard multiple footsteps approach the cell door, scuffling noises coming from the boots walking across the floor. Several jailers stood at the bars and opened the door, then moved aside as the familiar children were pushed in. The children stumbled forward before falling on the floor. They weakly brought themselves to their knees as the guards all laugh manically before shutting the gate doors and walking off.

All of the children lifted themselves up and looked down in despair. Rob moved forward and rested in front of all of them. They looked up at him and waited for him to say something. He only raised his hand before slapping all five of them across the face.

All of the children were stunned as they raised their hands to stop the fresh stinging feeling across their cheeks. They looked toward Rob who now had his eyes covered by his hair. Erza moved forward and stood in front of him. "I told you," he said as he lightly sniffed. He raised his head to show open eyes with tears streaming down them. "I told you I never wanted to see you hurt like that."

'I am so sorry' thought Erza sadly, she hated to see him suffer.

Makarov looked at his childhood friend's fragile form, pitying a smile appeared on his wrinkled face as he remembered the adventures they had lived while they were young.

"Come on, old friend, I know you still can and will do something to help these poor children," said the old master internally.

Erza silently sniffed in return. Before she slowly but surely started to break down, her tears falling uninterrupted and body shaking in fear. The other children were not fairing as well as they slowly became overwhelmed by their worry. They all charged Rob and hugged him as he wrapped his arms around all of them and tightly squeezed them. Never wanting to let go.

They spent nearly an hour crying in each other's embrace. After the group had cried until their eyes' were puffy and red, Rob had asked them what had happened. They all took turns explaining their escape plan to head to the ships. How they had moved inside the tunnels and vents towards the dockyard. When they were spotted and attacked which forced them to retreat and. And finally about how Naruto and Jellal were taken into the disciplinary cells after attacking and killing some of the guards.

Locking around Erza saw that everyone in the room was looking at her with gentle smiles on their faces.

She smiled back and return to the reading she never felt so comfortable in one place like she was now.

Rob paled in fear at the knowledge that the two confident boys had been taken to the chambers. He tried to calm himself down but found no result I easing his worry. After helping the children to calm down and telling the, that it would all be alright, he had gotten them to try to fall asleep. But even then, the children still cried silently and rustled in their sleep. All except for Erza, who had just sat against the wall staring at the bars.

"Are you alright Erza-chan?" Rob asked the question even though he already knew the answer.

She sat against the wall and brought her knees to her chest. "I'm fine Rob-jisan. I'm just going to stay up for a little bit."

Rob looked at the girl as he turned around on the floor. He stood back up walked toward her, taking a spot next to her. "You don't have to stay strong anymore you know." He said as the girl just lowered her head into her knees, blocking her eyes from view. "You can just tell me."

He got no answer in return from the upset redhead. He waited in silence and stared at the bars in her place. He continued to do this until he heard a light sniffle from beside him, turning his head to the attention of the little girl.

"It hurts so much Rob-jisan." She lifted her head out of her knees and let her tears fall into her lap. "Why did they h-have to do that? Those i-i-idiots have thems-selves t-taken away for us. We just had to watch as they got t-taken away. I-I had t-to watch h-him smile a-and l-lie to me that h-he would b-be fine." She said as she stuttered in pain and sadness as she tried and failed to hold back her tears. She stayed like that until she felt her grandpa embrace her in a warm hug.

She was surprised until her eyes couldn't keep open anymore and she cried in his chest. "I want to help him!" He quietly shushed her as he patted and rubbed her small back, telling her it would be okay. She continued crying until she passed out; overcome by the exhaustion and emotion the day had piled on her.

" I hope we have stopped this nonsense of shouldering everyone's burden," Naruto said with a strict voice

"Yes, from now on I should always trust that my friends would come victorious of every battle and embrace the fact that I am not responsible for everything around me." said the Titania.

The guild members started a small celebration, finally, they were free from Erza's tyranny.

"However that doesn't mean I will let you get away with everything " she finished with a nice tone that promise pain

And soon the members that were celebrating start crying.

Rob shifted and placed her on the floor. He looked back at the bars and let his mind wonder. Despite all his effort, his mind only wondered on the state that the two boys would be in. He slowly clenched his fist as he wished he could have been there. To help and protect them as they tried to run to freedom.

'Please God, let them be safe. I can't even dream of them getting hurt again.' He breathed out and settled into the rock wall. 'I promise that this will never happen again. I will protect them until I die.' He looked up with resolve in his eyes. He stayed up and watched the bars all night, hoping that the boys would be safe.

Erza stopped reading when she noticed that some pages were missing.

"I removed this page said" Mavis

"But why," asked Erza shock

"Honey, I already understand that violence in that universe is absurd, but I refuse to read and let you read."

"But Ma .." Erza was interrupted with a look that made her freeze

She quickly began reading the next page.others felt it was more intelligent to shut up.

As it had come to about eleven in the morning, all of the slaves in the cell were awake. They could barely sleep as they had worried too much as they tried to rest. Shō and Milliana still cried as they had blamed themselves for everything that had happened. Simon and Wally tried to calm them down while Erza continued to stare at the bars.

"Ne-Nee-San?" Erza turned her head and saw Shō sniffling and rubbing his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Nii-San and Jellal are probably hurt because of me. If I didn't try to get us to that vent, this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry." He sobbed as he felt Erza stand up and embrace him. He looked up at her watery but focused eyes.

"Don't be sorry Shō. Naruto and Jellal wouldn't want you to blame yourself. If we gave up a chance like that, they never would have lived it down." She lowered her head and put her face in his hair, he could feel her tears coming onto his scalp. "They'll be fine, I promise." She said to assure herself more than him.

"Good because the only thing guilt does is destroy people" said Makarov getting nods from his cheldreams.

"Yeah said mirajane as she remembered that it was her quilt that made her lose her fighting spirit.

For Lucy, she agreed with the master because when she had to sacrificed the Aquarius key to summon the spirit king. her remorse for having sacrificed her almost cost her her life and the worst the life of her friends, to this day, she sometimes has nightmares about what happened.

They all stayed in silence, hoping that their friends would be safe. Then, after an entire night of fearfully waiting, the bars creaked open.

The group looked toward the cell door with breathed silence. The jailer kept a stoic face as the bars creaked open and crashed against the stone wall. He looked at the man and the children for a few moments before slowly letting an evil smile grow on his face. He moved aside as a pair of men walked forward "Don't worry; the other one will be ready by tomorrow." The men threw in a small body before closing the doors with a metallic crash and walked away.

they had tortured a thirteen-year-old boy.

This was something that not even his greatest torturer had the courage to do.

And the guy was a sadist.

In all the battles he fought only three enemies left him as his other was now, and they all had the least bit of shame on their faces to give their enemies a chance to fight for their defense.

But these pigs do not hold this dignity.

And to think that he said this world was better than his own.

But he was very wrong, the difference is that in this world the crap was made hidden and the authorities everything so that they remain hidden

Despite the feeling of revolt that was present in the room none made a sound.

because there is not much to say in situations like these

"you motherfuckers," said Gildarts with pure anger

Or at least something without being a curse

for the next five minutes the room that was silent was filled with sobs and curses.

Until Mavis concluded that they had enough for now and asked them to go to their homes and cooldown.