Natsu tried to slip quietly out of the guild hall but both Lucy and Meredy were watching him like hawks. The moment he and Happy slipped out the side door the two women followed him. He wasn't even out the front gate of the property when he heard Lucy's voice behind him, "And just where are you two off to?"

Natsu kept walking but said over his shoulder, "I'm going out to the forest so that I can have my fight with Jellal."

He heard only silence behind him but he sensed that the two girls had come up to walk beside him while Happy flew over his head. After a bit of walking Lucy asked, "Why did you leave Erza behind? Aren't you doing this for her?"

Natsu frowned, "Erza doesn't approve when I get in fights, and she especially doesn't approve of this one. And… well… You weren't there when I fought him at the Tower of Heaven."

Lucy said indignantly, "Yes I was! I had to fight that weird guitar guy with Juvia!"

Natsu stopped and fixed an intense gaze on Lucy, "I know that. But you weren't at the top. If Erza comes now, I won't be able to hold back. I remember exactly what he did at the Tower of Heaven. I know it wasn't exactly him… but still."

Natsu started walking again, leaving Lucy with a stunned look on her face. Meredy started talking while Lucy was trying to catch up, "I just hope this settles the matter. I want Jellal to be happy. He needs to stop brooding so much, it's not healthy."

Natsu grumbled, "I think he secretly enjoys being unhappy."

Meredy glanced at the Dragon Slayer and gave an uncharacteristically manly noncommittal grunt. That ended the conversation as they were all preoccupied with their own thoughts now.

Natsu thought about his fight with Jellal at the Tower of Heaven, 'I wonder how strong he's gotten since then.'

Lucy thought about the incredible things Natsu had done since she'd known him, from defeating Lullaby to leading the fight against Future Rogue.

Meredy reflected on her taciturn companion and wondered if Natsu was right about him.

Happy wondered if Natsu would go fishing with him later.

The group walked silently into the forest; with Natsu unconsciously leading his group towards the clearing he'd taken Erza to on their date. His lips twitched in a feral smile as he stepped through the trees into the clearing and saw a cloaked figure leaning against a tree on the other side. The figure quickly moved across the clearing and lowered its hood, and soon enough Jellal stood in front of Natsu in the middle of the clearing. Tension was thick in the air as the two mages faced each other and finally Jellal said, "I'm surprised Erza let you come. She didn't seem to like the idea of us fighting over her."

Natsu chuckled, "She said that trying to stop me from fighting would be like banging her head against a wall, so I don't think she'll try and stop us. I kind of snuck away to fight anyways."

The blue haired man looked puzzled, "Why would you do that?"

Natsu's face hardened and he growled, "I don't want her to possibly relive the Tower of Heaven. If Erza watches our fight she might think about all the terrible things that happened and I don't want her to do that… because I don't ever want to see her tears again."

Jellal's face also hardened during the speech but it was different from Natsu. The Dragon Slayers face showed only a fierce determination. Jellal's face had a more complex set of emotions on it; pain, sadness, with a large dash of frustration. The blue headed mage settled himself into a fighting stance and said quietly, "Neither do I. But we gain no more from talking. Come!"

Tge Dragon Slayer silently nodded his assent and settled into his own fighting stance. Flames began to appear around him and they coalesced on his fists. Neither of them noticed Lucy, Meredy, and Happy quickly backing up, all three knowing how destructive this fight would be.

The Fairy Tail mage and the Crime Sorciere mage stared at each other with an intensity that threatened to erupt into violence at any moment. The two stood stock still until with a slight adjustment of one foot, Natsu exploded forward with a shout. He heard Jellal mutter "Meteor!" and his flaming fist went through golden tinted, but empty, space. The dragon Slayer heard a whoosh of air from behind him and he instinctively ducked, feeling Jellal's foot brush the back of his neck a microsecond later. Natsu turned, bringing his fist around but he couldn't match the speed of Jellal's Meteor and the blue haired man sunk his own fist into the Dragon Slayers stomach.

Natsu's adrenaline infused mind whirled as the breath was expelled from his body and he decided to go with a tried and true strategy, 'If I can't catch him, give him nowhere to run.'

The punch had thrown him back a good twenty feet and now the two opponents were again staring at each other. Natsu began to let more magic leak out of him and more flames began to swirl around the Dragon Slayer until they became a pillar of dancing fire 100 feet tall. He watched as Jellal did the same thing and his golden aura expanded, shooting upwards until it joined Natsu's fire in reaching up towards the sky. The Dragon Slayer cupped his hands around his mouth and a huge torrent of flame spewed out as he shouted, "Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

The flames shot towards Jellal who shifted laterally to avoid them. As soon as he was outside of its radius he blurred forward but this time Natsu was ready. The pink haired mage cut off his roar in an instant and let a huge ball of fire coalesce into his quickly outstretched hands. Natsu threw it at a charging Jellal with a defiant shout, "Brilliant Flame of the Fire Dragon!"

For a moment Natsu felt sure that he'd hit when the fireball exploded near Jellal but the fire had also hidden Jellal's movement from him and a golden blur in the corner of his eye was the only warning he got before the Crime Sorciere mage unleashed a devastating barrage of kicks and punches that ended with the Dragon Slayer creating a large crater in the ground. Natsu unconsciously noted that this battle was following the same line as their first fight as Jellal flew into the air and was now forming the magic circles and pattern for a familiar spell, "Heavenly Body Magic: Grand Chariot!"

A grin spread over Natsu's face as the meteor magic came streaking down at him and he again cupped his hands around his mouth shouting, "Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

The ensuing torrent of fire rushed upwards, blasting through the part of the spell aimed at Natsu and causing the rest to explode harmlessly on the ground around him, but more importantly, catching the Crime Sorciere mage by surprise and engulfing Jellal in the Dragon Slayers flames. Natsu stood up and leapt out of the crater to see Jellal streaking towards him, looking singed but unhurt. The blue haired mage sent a kick towards Natsu's head but he was able to get his forearm in the way, feeling the bone shattering force behind it but seeing Jellal wince as the flames around Natsu's arm began to engulf his leg. Jellal leapt backwards but came in again, suddenly dropping low and attempting to sweep Natsu's legs out from underneath him. The Dragon Slayer hopped over them and punched down at Jellal's face with a shout, "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!"

His fist connected and drove Jellal straight into the ground, creating another crater and a plume of dust. The Dragon Slayer leapt into the air and for a third time cupped his hands around his mouth with a triumphant shout, "Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

A rush of flames bore down on the plume of dust and smashed into the crater where Jellal was, bathing the blue haired mage in fire and smashing him further into the ground. The Dragon Slayer didn't let up, keeping the intense torrent of flames flowing until he finally ran out of breath and had to cut it off, letting himself fall and land lightly on the ground. He watched as the dust cleared and was replaced by a thin veil of smoke, the grass surrounding the crater now smoldering just from the intense heat of Natsu's attack. He saw a flash of red through the smoke but paid it no mind, instead paying attention to the blue hair that rose up above the edge of the crater and then the blast of wind that suddenly blew away the remaining dust and smoke to show Jellal. The Crime Sorciere mage was floating lightly above the crater with his ever present golden aura still surrounding him. He came down and settled on the ground, brown eyes finding Natsu before saying, "You surprised me. I didn't think you would be that fast."

The Dragon Slayer gave Jellal a once over, noticing that his forearms were badly bruised and burnt from where he presumably had blocked Natsu's attack. The pink haired mage grinned and said, "You should know not to underestimate me by now Jellal."

Natsu's opponent threw back his head and laughed before saying, "You're right of course. That seems to be the most common mistake your opponent's mistake."

The Dragon Slayer crossed his arms and frowned, "I know right! It gets really annoying after a while!"

The two continued their friendly banter while Lucy, Meredy, and Happy watched with bemused looks on their faces. Lucy muttered, "Weren't they trying their hardest to beat the other one just a few moments ago?"

Meredy nodded and said, "Yeah… I guess they're trying not to get too serious? I honestly have no idea what they're doing."

A heavy hand landed on both girls' shoulders and they shrieked before hearing Erza's voice say, "The two of them are friends and they aren't going to let a battle such as this get in the way of that."

Meredy and Lucy glanced back at the red head and Lucy said, "Don't scare us like that, and what do you mean they're not going to let a battle like this get in the way of their friendship."

Erza watched the two men in the center of the clearing with a smile on her face, "I don't think they'll let this, even though it is very serious for the both of them, come between their friendship. Or rather, I hope they won't let it. Both of them are very important to me, and even though they got off to a very rough start, I want the two of them to be friends, but I can't force them to be no matter how much I wish I could."

The scarlet haired mage watched as the two men who were dear in her heart suddenly clashed again and the other two women with her jerked their heads back around towards the battle. Both men were moving extremely quickly, trading blows back and forth, although Jellal's Meteor magic seemed to give him an upper hand. As the two men battled Natsu flung fire around the clearing trying to give Jellal no place to run and force him to take Natsu's attacks if he wanted to get close to the Dragon Slayer. This strategy was only half working for Natsu. He was hitting Jellal, but Jellal was hitting him more often, and harder. Erza's heart leapt into her throat as Jellal faked right and Natsu fell for the feint unleashing a devastating torrent of flames at empty space. In the few moments that Natsu was vulnerable Jellal blurred forward unleashed another barrage of blows against Natsu, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a tree.

The Dragon Slayer bounced back, though perhaps a tad bit slower than before. The two mages continued fighting and the spectators had to move back because the sheer amount of magic and flames that was flying around was blasting the trees at the edge of the clearing away. After a few minutes of watching Meredy sighed, "It's small but it's there, Jellal clearly has the edge in this fight."

Erza had come to the same conclusion too but she smiled and without taking her eyes off of the battle in front of her said, "That may be true, but Natsu has always risen above himself when fighting someone stronger than him, for something important to him. I would not discount him yet."

The three women kept watching as the destruction around the clearing grew and slowly but surely, Natsu got tired. His movements became sluggish, his fire was less intense, and he was getting struck by Jellal more frequently. Jellal was breathing hard as well and had also slowed down, but he looked like he'd taken much less damage from Natsu's attacks. Jellal shot a thick beam of golden light at Natsu and the Dragon Slayer was too slow to get out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack and dropping to one knee, his breathing erratic. Jellal stood only a few yards from him and the Crime Sorciere mage huffed out, "It might take a while, but I'm going to win this Natsu. I know it isn't in you to give up so I won't ask, but the end is inevitable."

Natsu staggered to his feet before responding, "Just because the end is inevitable doesn't mean that I can't win."

Erza could see Jellal's lips twitch into a smile for a short moment, "That's the thing about inevitability Natsu, it means you can't win."

Natsu grimaced, "Then inevitability is stupid, but I'm not talking about winning the fight."

The blue haired mage frowned again, "Then what are you talking about."

"I'm talking about something that I have and you don't, and as long as that's true, you can never win."

Jellal took all of it in and then his lips twisted in a snarl, "What Natsu? Are you talking about Erza's heart? I know I don't have that anymore. Are you talking about a guild? Friends? Family? Just because the course of my life has been different from yours doesn't mean I don't have those. Just because I have to redeem myself and have less of that than you do doesn't mean that you're winning!"

Natsu shook his head, "It's not about any of that."

The Dragon Slayer brought his hand up and pointed at his heart, "I believe in myself Jellal. You don't. You're too weighed down by your past to believe in yourself. Look around Jellal! Fairy Tail believes in you, Meredy believes in you, Erza believes in you. Why can't you believe in yourself? You won't let go of the past, no matter how hard we try and make you. In our eyes, and more importantly in Erza's, you already have redeemed yourself. You won't believe it though, and so you can never beat me, even if I lose here."

Jellal could only stare at Natsu and then said so quietly that Erza could barely hear, "Then let us finish this farce. I know it won't win me Erza's heart. I'm not even sure why I'm fighting you anymore, but I will not give up either."

The blue haired mage brought his arms above his head and crossed them. The shadows created by the afternoon sun began to move and swirl before streaming towards Jellal and coalescing into a spinning orb in his hands that rapidly grew in size. Erza watched as Natsu settled into his own stance, arms held at the ready. She knew that she couldn't interfere with this fight like she had the last one, but she didn't want to. She smiled at the look of determination, rather than hate and anger, that was etched on Jellal's face, 'Simon, I wish you could be here to see Jellal like he is now. I think you would be proud of him and how far he's come.'

Jellal shouted, "Heavenly Body Magic: Altairis!" and flung the whirling black vortex at Natsu. The Dragon Slayer smiled and swiped his hands in front of him roaring, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"

A torrent of swirling flames exploded outwards from Natsu towards his opponent and met Jellal's attack between them. The flames and darkness crashed into each other and for a moment seemed to mix, the ball of darkness swirling with veins of fire. Erza could only see it for a moment though, because the energy from the two attacks couldn't be contained for long and they exploded. Even though the spectators were a hundred yards away from the explosion they were still knocked flat, and every tree still left standing in that radius was ripped up and knocked over. When Erza got her senses back she noticed Lucy had a death grip on Happy and nearly chuckled, 'He'd probably have gotten blown all the way back to Magnolia from that.'

The red head stood up and helped Meredy and Lucy to their feet. She murmured, "We should go find them, I think the fight is over."

As they passed uprooted and smoldering tree's Lucy said wondrously, "Is this what happened at the top of the Tower? They destroyed so much!"

Erza chuckled, "This is what happened before Natsu ate Etherion. After that those two nearly destroyed the entire Tower."

The three, (four is you count Happy, but nobody ever does) split up to look for their friends. After a few minutes of searching Erza found Jellal sitting with his back against a downed tree. She knelt down next to him and found his eyes fixed on her. He didn't seem to have the energy to move and he rasped out, "When did you get here?"

Erza shook her head, "I've been here for a while."

He glanced away from her and mumbled, "So you saw everything?"

She nodded and said, "It was a ferocious fight."

The blue haired mage leaned his head back and stared up at the sky, "It doesn't matter though because in the end there was nothing to gain from it. It was a fight with no point."

Erza lightly smacked Jellal's forehead and he looked at her, "Maybe originally it didn't have a point, but I think it did matter. Sometimes you have to hear some hard truths before you can understand and believe them."

The meaningful look on Erza's face didn't go unnoticed by Jellal and a small smile broke out on his face, "Only Natsu could help someone while at the same time trying his hardest to defeat them."

This caused the red head to chuckle and reply, "Don't tell him that though. He might get it into his head that fighting someone is the best way to help them and I'd spend more time knocking him out than actually being with him."

Jellal chuckled too but then his face turned somber, "And that's what you want? To be with him?"

Erza nodded. Jellal looked out over the destruction he'd helped cause and said after a moment, "Natsu told me to stop being weighed down by the past. Maybe it would have always been there between us, and so maybe this is for the best."

A smile graced Erza's face and she leaned forward, pulling Jellal up and dragging his arm around her neck until she was completely supporting him. She started to walk across the field, practically carrying him as the tips of his feet dragged over what was left of the grass. They soon found Lucy, Meredy, and Happy who were all bent over Natsu. The pink haired Dragon Slayer was flat on his back, snoring in a dead sleep with a smile on his face. Erza chuckled, "Look at him. Knocked out but still happy enough to smile."

Lucy stood up and shook her head, "He's such a moron. He lost but he's still smiling."

Meredy also stood up and grinned at Jellal before saying, "I think they tied. Just look! Jellal can't even stand up!"

Erza groaned, "Now I bet he's going to ask for a rematch as soon as he wakes up. He's incorrigible!"

Everybody chuckled and Happy declared, "But that's Natsu!"

Lucy and Meredy bent down and got on either side of Natsu, hauling him up with both of his arms around their shoulders, and all three women began taking the two beat up men back to the Fairy Tail guild hall. Lucy complained, "When did Natsu get so heavy? And Happy, why aren't you helping?"

The small blue cat, who was floating above everybody's head, said proudly, "I carry Natsu all the time, I need a break. Besides, you're heavier than he is Lucy!"

With Lucy's promises of death and a fishless apartment filling her ears,, and Jellal's dead weight settled around her shoulders, Erza smiled and thought, 'Maybe now everybody can start down a path to real happiness.'