Chapter Seven

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"Nashi. Nashi, wake up." Nashi felt herself being shaken. She opened her eyes and saw it was just dawn. "Let's go." Simon said. "We should get up early. We're not that far from Marigold Town. That means we're not far from Sasha."

"Yeah." Nashi said as she was waking up with everyone else. Nashi and the others have been trying to track down Sasha for the past few days since she stole that job. They aren't that far from Marigold Town now, but they had to hurry because their parents should have noticed by now of what's going on?

"How much farther are we exactly?" Gale said.

"Not far. I just hope that, if Sasha got there, that she hasn't been there long." Simon said.

…

Sasha

Sasha camped outside herself. She was starting to wake up and saw it was pretty early.

"I shouldn't be that much further." Sasha said as she started walking. She walked through the forest until the trees started to clear away and she was standing by a cliff. She could finally see it in her sight. "There it is." Just further ahead was the tower and it looked like something tangled together. Sasha gripped her own hand as she was filling with much rage and anger. "To think it looks completed. Well, that tower will come crushing down." Sasha jumped off the cliff and made the rest of the way. It wasn't long before Nashi and the others showed up.

"Whoa! Guys, look!" Nova said. They all looked in the distance and saw the tower.

"Is that the forbidden tower?" Storm said.

"It must be. We're very close to the border." Simon said. All of them were curious as to what that tower was, but they needed to get to work. Nashi took a breath and a scent went through her nose.

"Guys! I think Sasha went through here recently. I've picked up her scent." Nashi said. Gale and Nova used their strong noses and they had it themselves.

"Yeah. That's her. She can't be that much further." Gale said.

"What are we waiting for?" Storm said and they were all thinking the same thing. Gale, Storm, and Nashi went on ahead, but Nova stayed back when she noticed Simon wasn't moving.

"Simon, what's wrong?" Nova asked.

"I can't explain it." Simon said as he kept his eyes on the tower. "Something about that tower seems familiar to me."

"Figure it out later. Sasha is just ahead and we better get her." Nova said.

"Yeah. You're right." Simon said and ignored what he was feeling. He decided to keep moving, but what Simon wasn't aware of was that he was closer to this tower than he thought.

…

The Tower

Up near the top of the tower was a throne room and someone was heading to the top. This person was a man that had aquamarine hair with a dark blue shirt that had only one sleeve. He had a white sash with dark rings around his chest and wore green pants with sandals. He also wore a teal scarf. He made his way to the throne room to speak with someone who was in the shadows.

"You may speak, Seymour."

"We're close to our goal, sir. The tower is near completion and we have almost all the magic power that is necessary." Seymour said.

"Good. The Magic Council may have interfered with this dream many years ago, but they won't be able to this time."

"Sir, what about Marigold Town? It would have a dastardly effect on it and the people around." Seymour said.

"I'm not really too concerned about that. No one and nothing will stand in our way. If there's nothing else you have to say, you may go."

"As you wish." Seymour said and left the man, but gritted his teeth when his boss wasn't looking.

…..

Sasha

Sasha went directly to Marigold Town, but it's a small town and it looked depressing. People were outside and they all looked miserable.

"This place really hasn't changed." Sasha said. Sasha kept her eyes on the village and didn't seem to notice someone was coming up to her. That person reached out for her, but Sasha grabbed that person's arm and had the person pinned to the ground.

"Ow! Sasha, stop! It's me!"

"Nashi?!" Sasha said as she was surprised the person who she thought was attacking her was Nashi. She turned around and saw all the rest of them.

"We finally caught up to you, Sasha." Storm said.

"What are all of you doing here?!" Sasha said as she let Nashi up and she didn't sound happy at all to see them.

"That's something we should be asking." Gale said.

"Sasha, what were you thinking? You took a job request without permission." Nova said.

"Are you aware of how much trouble you're going to be in for this?" Simon said.

"I am and I don't care." Sasha said. "You all just wasted your time coming here after me. Go back to the guild if you want, but I'm staying here."

"We're not leaving without you." Storm said.

"Just leave." Sasha said as she was starting to get irritated.

"Not without you." Simon said. "We're not leaving you to do this job alone. You're our friend and you could get yourself killed with how tough this job is. You're not an S-class wizard."

"I'm not going to die. At least not until I destroy that tower." Sasha said. "Will you guys just get out of here and let me handle this?"

"Sasha, what's going on with you? Why would you do something like this?" Nashi asked.

"Sasha, I have a strange feeling that there's more to this than you're telling us." Gale said. "You're starting to freak us out. What's so special about this job that you just have to do it on your own?" Sasha was never the easiest person to talk to. Getting her to open up is never easy.

"Sasha?! Sasha, is that you?!" All of them looked behind Sasha and was met with someone she knew.

"Seymour?" Sasha said.

"It really is you! You've returned!" Seymour said as he ran over to her and hugged her like how a long lost father reunited with his daughter.

"She knows him?" Storm said.

"Returned? Hold on." Nova said as she looked around the town and saw how bad the place was, but it a thought also occurred to her. "Is this where Sasha is from?"

"Look at you. You've grown into a beautiful young woman and you seem to have joined a guild." Seymour said. "Are these people your friends?"

"These people are leaving." Sasha said.

"We're not going anywhere. At least not until someone tells us what the hell is going on." Nashi said. "Sasha, is this really where you're from? What is that tower exactly?"

"So you don't know." Seymour said. "Perhaps we should move inside and have this discussion." All of them went with Seymour, but Sasha still wasn't glad that her friends came in the first place. They moved inside a small house for them to talk. "Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Seymour. I've actually known Sasha since she was born. Her mother, Loretta, and I were good friends."

"Let me just say that is nice to meet." Nashi said. "We're all pretty good friends in Fairy Tail. She's part of our team."

"That's nice to hear." Seymour said.

"So could you please explain to us what the tower is?" Simon said. "Also, what seems to be wrong with everyone? They all look depressed out there."

"Yes. It's sad." Seymour said. "It's been this way for many years. To be precise, it all started around the time the tower was being constructed."

"A little fitting given the name of this town." Sasha said. "Some say that the marigold is a flower that symbolizes despair."

"The tower is the work of a cult that worships black magic. In fact, this form of magic is forbidden by the Magic Council." Seymour said. "Dantu has been at work with this tower for years when he took his place as the high priest of this cult."

"High priest?" Gale questioned.

"It's practically the same as a guild master." Sasha said. "Taking him down will help bring down the whole cult."

"If this form of magic is forbidden, how come the Magic Council doesn't take action?" Nashi asked.

"Because Dantu tries to make sure no word about this gets out." Seymour said. "That's why I didn't go into specific details when I posted this job."

"You were the one that asked about it?" Storm said.

"I was. There's one more reason." Seymour said. "The tower is built directly on the border of Fiore and Bosco. If the Magic Council were to act, there's a chance the neighboring countries could misinterpret it to be an act of war."

"That means Dantu is free to do whatever he wants here." Sasha said. "As for the reason everyone is so miserable, he's the reason. He overpowers anyone who tries to go against him and forces them to work on the tower for a time as punishment. Dantu will do anything to achieve the cult's goals."

"And thanks to that, the tower is near completion." Seymour said.

"This tower sounds like it's not a benefit to anyone." Nashi assumed. "I'm also assuming that you called it the forbidden tower because it deals with forbidden magic. This could change everything. Guys, what are we going to do? We can't just leave these people like this if they're miserable."

"Nashi's right. By the time someone actually does take this job, it might be too late for anyone to do anything." Storm said.

"What is the cult's goal? What are they going to do once the tower is complete?" Nova asked.

"They're going to use the magic that is forbidden." Seymour said. "I'm not sure if you're away of this, but the tower does have name. It's known as the R-System or, as Dantu actually took a liking to, the Tower of Heaven."

"The Tower of Heaven?!" Simon practically shouted. "Are you kidding me? That's still around."

"You sound like you're aware of it." Seymour said.

"Not personally, but I have heard of it. It's the very thing in my mother's nightmares." Simon said. "Guys, don't you remember? We were told about the story before." None of them seem to and Sasha seemed interested in this. "I thought not. My mother and father were actually slaves when they were children and helped build another tower. My mother was tortured, frightened, and she never got a happy childhood because of it. It is where my mother and father met, but things weren't well for them."

"Oh yeah! It's starting to come back to me!" Nashi said. "Wasn't Jellal the one in charge of building the place?"

"Yes, but he was manipulated by Grimoire Heart." Simon said. "They started to fight for their freedom, but my father became possessed and he took charge of finishing the tower. My mother was the only one to escape and ended up in Fairy Tail."

"Yeah. I remember the story now too." Storm said. "Erza didn't come back until years later until the tower was finished."

"That's right. It was thanks to Natsu and the others my father was stopped and he returned to his senses." Simon said. "However, it caused the life of a dear friend of theirs. In fact, he's the person I'm named after because the day I was born….was the day I died."

"Whoa! That's some heavy stuff there." Gale said.

"I had no idea your parents went through something like that." Sasha said.

"The tower was destroyed, but my mother is still tortured by the memories and my father still feels so guilty." Simon said. "I suppose this might be why the tower seemed so familiar to me, but there's still one thing I don't get."

"And what that might be?" Seymour said.

"It takes massive amounts of magic power for the tower to work." Simon said. "My father absorbed an etherion blast from the Magic Council. If what you say is true, how is the tower going to have that much power."

"I'll show you." Seymour said.

…

The Tower

Seymour guided all of them to the tower and were careful not to let any of this cult to see them. Seymour led them to the bottom of the tower and they all saw strange machines that sounded like they were running.

"What are those things?" Nashi asked.

"Magic adapters." Sasha said.

"They absorb ethernano from the air itself and store it into the tower." Seymour said. "They've been running for all these years. The tower has almost all the magic power it needs to work."

"So this thing really is almost complete and if it goes off, I'm guessing it would be bad for the people in the town." Storm said.

"This isn't good." Simon said.

"Now that you guys know what's going on, you can leave." Sasha said.

"Sasha, we're not going to let you do this alone. We're going to take this tower down together" Simon said and that surprised everyone. "We're going to take this job, even if we don't have permission."

"But Simon, what about the guild. We're all going to be in so much trouble." Nova said.

"I don't give a damn about that." Simon said. "I suppose it's fitting that I'm here at a tower like this that tortures my parents. So I should take part in taking it down."

"Simon's got the right idea." Nashi said. "No matter what happens from here on out, we're taking that tower down." All of them weren't sure at first, but they figured that they came all this way and they'll do what they can. What none of them seemed to be aware of was that a flying lacrima was over them.

…

Dantu

"Did you really think you could fool me, Seymour?" Dantu said as he used the lacrima to spy on all of them. "I'll crush whatever hope you thought you had of stopping me." He had the lacrima zoom in and had it on Sasha. "So you came back, Sasha. This will be a reunion you won't soon be forgetting."

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