Chapter Six

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"Whoo! I can't believe we're doing this! We'll be going on one of the S-class jobs." Storm said as he was getting excited. Simon proposed that they all try one of the S-class jobs to give them the challenge some of them are looking for. Simon and Nova led them upstairs where the higher and tougher jobs are at.

"How come I haven't been able to take one of these jobs before?" Sasha asked.

"It's not that easy, Sasha." Nova said. "There was once a time where only wizards who were S-class were allowed to go."

"Yeah, but that all changed a long time ago." Nashi said. "Anyone can go now just as long a wizard who is S-class is allowed to go too."

"That's why I said only Nova or myself could handle it." Simon said.

'Yeah. I guess I should have mentioned this earlier.' Nashi narrated. 'Simon and Nova are actually S-class wizards in our little group. Usually, that would mean we can take any of those jobs, but that wasn't really the case. None of us were aware what was going to happen.'

"So which one of us should we take?" Gale said. "If you're so concerned, let's trying find an easy one. Anyone see anything?" All of them took a look at some of the bigger jobs. There was one that caught Sasha's attention.

"That one!" Sasha said and she looked a little freaked.

"Which one?" Simon asked.

"That one. What does that one say?" Sasha said as she wanted some confirmation and she seemed anxious. She pointed to one of the flyers and they all looked at it.

"This looks interesting. It says "Destroy the Forbidden Tower"." Nashi said. "Whoa! It's quite the distance. It says here it's near some town called Marigold Town."

"I've heard of that place. It's located right about the edge of Fiore. It's very close to the border between Fiore and Bosco." Simon said.

"I don't get it. What's this forbidden tower about?" Storm asked.

"It doesn't say. All the flyer says is that the people want it destroyed." Nova said. "Though, it might be more challenging than it sounds. Why do you think it's consider S-class?"

"Nova's right." Simon said. "Look, let's not decide what job to take right now. It could take us weeks to finish the job and we should prepare. Let's get ourselves ready, get a good night's rest, and we'll come back and take one first thing in the morning."

"Sounds good to me." Nashi said.

"Fine. I'm just glad we're doing this." Storm said. All of them seemed pretty excited to go on one of these jobs, but Simon noticed something was wrong. Sasha wasn't as excited as he thought she would be. She still seemed anxious and it almost appeared that she was trembling.

"Sasha? Are you okay?" Simon asked.

"I'm fine." Sasha said as she walked away. Simon was a little concerned about her. He just knew there was something she wasn't telling them.

…

Nashi's Home

"What?! You're going on an S-class quest tomorrow?!" Lucy said. Nashi just told her family about their plans for tomorrow.

"Yeah. It's in line with the guilds rules because Simon and Nova will be with us." Nashi said.

"That's great! I'm so proud of my little girls. She's taking such a big job." Natsu said as he was getting all giddy.

"Yeah. I remember when we went on our first." Happy said.

"So do I." Lucy said, but with more disdain in her voice. "Nashi, it could be very dangerous."

"It will be fine, Mom. We all look out for each other and we haven't decided on a job yet." Nashi said. "We still need to get permission from Master Laxus."

"Don't talk her out of it, Lucy. She's not a kid anymore. She's seventeen. If she feels she's ready for a job like this, let her go." Natsu said.

"Make up your mind." Lucy said. "There are still times I see you still treat her like a child, but when it comes to job requests, you say she's a grown woman?"

"You are one complex dad." Happy said and everyone was in agreement making Natsu feel embarrassed.

"I'm not. It's simple. Sometimes I see her as a grown girl and sometimes I see her as my little girl." Natsu said as he tried to defend himself. "It's as simple as that."

"Dad, if everything was simple when it comes to you, it might be easier going for everyone." Nashi said.

…

The Guild

"Dad, let's go. It's getting late." Damien called out. The guild was closing up with Laxus and his family being the last to leave.

"I'm coming." Laxus said as he was on his way. "Let's head out to eat before you head back to Fairy Hills, Nova. Mira, what do you think for dinner?"

"I was thinking of a nice pasta meal." Mirajane said as all of them were on their way out, but Nova just realized something.

"Oops. I left my wallet in the guild. I'll just run back and get it." Nova said.

"Okay, Nova. Just make sure you lock the place up when you leave." Laxus said. Nova rushed back in the guild while the rest of her family went on ahead to get something to eat. Nova looked around for her wallet, but soon found it in her Dad's office.

"It must have fallen out and I didn't notice." Nova said. Nova was on her way to leave, but she heard a noise with her advance hearing. "What was that?" She looked around and thought she saw something move through the shadows. "Who's there?" Nova hurried over and went to see who it was, but the shadowy figure went toward a window and jumped out in the open. When Nova made it to the window, the moonlight revealed who it was and Nova couldn't believe it. "Sasha?!" It also looked like Sasha has something, but Nova couldn't see what it was as Sasha was running away from the guild. "What was she doing? Why would Sasha sneak around the guild when everyone else is gone?" Nova looked around to find a clue as to why Sasha snuck in the guild. As Nova looked around, she soon found something and she couldn't believe what she found.

…

Nashi

Nashi already got herself ready for bed and was drifting off to sleep. Her sleep was interrupted when she heard her own personal portable lacrima going off. She fought through the drowsiness and answered.

"Hello? Nova? Do you have any idea how late it is?" Nashi asked, but something Nova said got her moving. "Sasha did what?!"

…

The Guild

Nova had to call off plans with her parents and said that she needed to head back to Fairy Hills. She's hoping to find an answer that won't get Sasha in trouble. She called the others and they all hurried over to the guild and not to tell their parents on what's going on.

"We're here, Nova." Storm said as he and the rest of them were fully dressed and came over.

"Nova, are you certain about what you saw?" Gale said.

"I am." Nova said. "Sasha snuck into the guild. She must have thought it was empty. She came and stole one of the jobs."

"No way! That doesn't sound like Sasha." Simon said.

"Are you sure it was her you saw?" Nashi asked.

"It was. I saw it." Nova said.

"Why would Sasha steal one of the job flyers?" Storm pondered.

"What job did she take? Do you know?" Nashi asked.

"I thought it was a regular job, but I didn't see one that was missing." Nova said. "That was when a thought occurred to me. I checked and saw she took one of the S-class jobs." That was a shock to all of them and that made things even worse.

"Are you serious?!" Simon said. "Stealing a job is bad enough, but stealing an S-class is even worse. Is Sasha not aware of how much trouble she's going to be in? It's looked down upon to steal any job, but stealing one of those jobs is a more serious matter."

"Yeah. This is a serious problem." Gale said.

"So which one did she take?" Nashi asked.

"It was the one she was asking about earlier, where they asked to destroy this forbidden tower." Nova said.

"The forbidden tower?" Simon said. "Interesting. She did act strange when she first noticed the flyer."

"But why that one?" Gale said. "There must have been some reason she took that one. Did she do it just by choosing randomly or did she do it for some other reason?"

"Sasha never does anything randomly. The decisions she makes based on how she thinks." Storm said.

"Something's going on with her and I have a feeling this job has something to do with it." Simon said.

"I don't get it. What the hell is this forbidden tower and why is it forbidden?" Gale asked.

"Don't know. I never heard about it until today." Storm said.

"What are we going to do? We're wasting time if we just stand here and talk about it." Nashi said. "Sasha could be getting further and further away."

"Nashi's right. Should we inform Laxus about this?" Storm said.

"No." Simon said. "We should go after her. We can't wait around. I don't know what's at this tower, but taking a job like this is dangerous to do alone. If Sasha gets to this tower, I'm worried she could get killed."

"But the adults are going to find out about this." Nova said. "Marigold Town is near the border of Bosco and Fiore. It will take us days to get there and back. We'll never make it back before my Dad or anyone notices we're gone."

"I know that, but we don't have a choice." Simon said. "We have to go after Sasha and bring her back before something happens."

"Simon's right. We don't have any time to wait for our parents." Nashi said. "We've got to find her. So we better get going."

"Does anyone know which direction we're suppose to go?" Storm said. "None of us have really left Fiore before."

"That doesn't matter. Let's just go. We've got to catch Sasha before this situation gets any worse." Nashi said and it was in full agreement with everyone.

'So we all agreed to help Sasha out and try to keep her out of trouble.' Nashi narrated. 'However, Gale was right. There was more to this than we thought.'

…..

Sasha

Sasha was running through the forest in the dead of night and had the flyer in her hands after she took it from the guild. Something was driving her. Something was pushing her and he wasn't going to stop.

'So they want the tower destroyed. The only person who's going to do that is me. I'm not going to let anyone else do it.' Sasha thought. 'To think this flyer would be in the guild I work at in all places. This has to be a sign.' As Sasha was running, she was remembering something. Something that was dark, depraving, and plain horrible that involved this tower. A couple people also came into her mind. One with a warm and caring smile and one with a smile that was dark and wicked. 'I'm not the same as I was all those years ago. I'm much stronger now. It's time I go back. It's time that I face him…..and destroy him.' Sasha had a strong resolve as she ran further into the night. Sasha was heading down a dark path and it was leading to a dark place.

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