Meliodas and Carla traveled through the forest, trying to remember the way they came.
"Didn't you say it was this way?" Meliodas asked, looking at Carla. The white cat shook her head.
"I…" Carla had no response, she didn't know which way was back anymore as she looked around with all the trees looking the same.
"So.. we are lost. Let's look around to see if we can find anything familiar we may have passed." Meliodas suggested. Carla nodded. Just as the two were looking around for clues, a voice appeared in Meliodas's head.
"Meliodas, can you hear me?"
"What?!" Meliodas said out loud.
"What happened, did you see something?" Carla asked.
"No, a voice appeared inside my head. This voice is familiar.. Aren't you the Blue Pegasus member?" Meliodas recognized the voice. It was Hibiki who had stayed behind.
"Yes, I was finally able to locate you. I am sending my thoughts directly to you. Have you found Wendy?"
"Yeah, we are bringing her back. But it looks like we got a bit lost."
"I see… No problem, I can transmit a map into your head. It should lead you back to us."
"Neat." Meliodas replied. He suddenly felt a map appear in his head, detailing the way back to the camp as if he knew this forest like the back of his hand.
"Was that Hibiki?" Carla asked curiously. Meliodas looked towards Carla.
"Yeah. He just contacted me and gave me information. Lets go, I know the way back now."
---
Meliodas and Carla arrived back at the rendezvous area. Hibiki was standing alone in the clearing, looking at a large magical interface in front of him.
"Oh it looks like they got Wendy already." Hibiki commented as he waved at Meliodas who was walking towards them. His eyebrows raised as he saw Meliodas bringing back two others with him.
"Angel and Racer?!" Hibiki said, surprised.
Meliodas placed Wendy on the ground gently as Carla ran to Wendy's side. He walked over to where Cobra was unconscious and placed Angel and Racer there as well. All three of them were tied up together, unable to move even if they were to wake up.
"How convenient to keep rope on you like that in your requip." Hibiki commented.
"My landlord gave me the idea." Meliodas responded.
"I will say, that's incredible. You took down three of the Oracion Seis. Considering how easily you dealt with Cobra, I assume neither Erza or Natsu assisted you." Hibiki commented. The Oracion Seis had taken all of them down without much trouble but Meliodas was able to beat three of them alone.
"I guess I just got lucky." Meliodas replied nonchalantly.
Hibiki smiled. "Meliodas.. Your title of The Blond Demon certainly suits you."
Meliodas tilted his head at Hibiki after hearing the comment.
"So you know about that?"
"You caused quite a commotion…Although it was hard to tell it was you at first. The wanted poster of you is...interesting...to say the least." Hibiki said.
"Yeah, that was a huge misunderstanding." Meliodas laughed.
"By the way, I haven't been able to get in contact with Natsu or Erza. I thought they were with you on the Wendy rescue squad? Where have they gone?" Hibiki asked.
"Well we ran into some guy named Jellal and they ran after him while I took Wendy back." Meliodas said.
"Jellal...what does he have to do with Nirvana…?" Hibiki said to himself. He turned back to his interface and began furiously typing on the touchscreen as he sorted through information.
"Guys, I think Wendy is waking up!" Carla shouted. The group turned around and saw Wendy slowly trying to sit back up.
"Wendy what happened? You didn't overuse your magic again did you?" Carla questioned.
"I-I did...It was for Jellal…" Wendy said as tears began to flow down her face.
"That was very reckless of you Wendy! And after you passed out, Meliodas, Natsu, and Erza showed up to rescue you, only for Jellal to try and blast them away!" Carla sternly said.
"I-I'm sorry…but Jellal...he wouldn't do something like that…that can't be right..." Wendy said as she wiped her tears.
Hibiki continued typing frantically through his archives, trying to figure out Jellal's connection to Nirvana.
"There there." Meliodas said as he walked up to Wendy and patted her gently on the head. Wendy looked up at Meliodas slightly confused.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Meliodas, from Fairy Tail." Meliodas replied with a warm smile. "If this Jellal guy isn't as bad as you say he is, why don't we go talk to him ourselves."
"You can't be serious! I won't allow this! That's too dangerous!" Carla yelled as she stood in front of Meliodas and Wendy, separating them.
"This might be the only way. If Brain needed Jellal for something, the best way to find out is to get that information out of Jellal himself. Based on the information I've gathered on Meliodas, he may be the best person to do it." Hibiki interjected.
"Carla, I have to do this…" Wendy pleaded as she looked Carla in the eyes, her teary eyes gone and replaced with determination.
Carla sighed and shook her head.
"I suppose. I can't leave you alone to do this Wendy."
"Thank you Carla!" Wendy said as she hugged Carla.
Meliodas turned back around and faced the forest again, with a serious look on his face. 'He looked like Mystogan...maybe the "Jellal" Wendy was referring to was…' Meliodas set aside his thoughts and turned towards the group.
"Ok so Wendy and Carla will join me. What about you, Hibiki?"
"You go on ahead. I'm going to see what I can gather about Jellal's relation to Nirvana." Hibiki replied as he continued pulling up various interfaces with his magic.Meliodas nodded in response. He looked back at Wendy and Carla.
"Let's go!"
---
Meliodas ran through the forest with Carla flying above him, carrying Wendy with her. They retraced their steps, and made it back to the cliffside, which was an easy task as Hibiki had given Meliodas a detailed mental map of the area.
"Erza, Natsu, and Happy went that way." Meliodas said, pointing towards the bottom of the cliff that led to another part of the forest. As his finger was pointed in that direction, a strange pressure filled the air. Meliodas's eyes widened as a large pillar of black light shot up into the sky from a distance.
"This pressure…?" Meliodas said as he stared at the large beam of light.
"Could that be Nirvana? You think Natsu and Erza will be there too?" Carla questioned as Wendy stared at the beam wide-eyed.
"Then Jellal has to be there too!" Wendy commented.
Meliodas clenched his fist and a dark aura began to envelop him. Carla and Wendy looked at Meliodas in shock as wings of darkness sprouted from his back.
"What is this darkness? D-don't tell me Nirvana is doing this to him?!" Carla exclaimed. Meliodas glanced back at the two and smiled, relieving them.
"I'm going on ahead!" Meliodas said as he jumped up into the air and soared towards the beam.
---
"Jellal!!!" Natsu yelled in rage. He faced Jellal with his fists clenched tightly and engulfed in flames. Jellal turned around from facing the enormous beam of light and looked back at Natsu and Erza who were standing behind him.
"Erza…" Jellal said solemnly as he shifted his gaze solely to Erza. "Why is that the only name I can remember…"
"Jellal...you and I were once friends. But you became so deranged to go as far as to hurt your friends...You destroyed the council and murdered Simon. Don't think I'll let you forget all of that!" Erza yelled.
"I hurt my friends? How could...I…" Jellal questioned. Tears began streaming down his face. He buckled over, clasping his face with his right hand.
"Don't give me that shit Jellal!" Natsu shouted back, even more enraged at Jellal's current actions. He began walking forward towards Jellal as Happy tried to hold him back.
"Wait Natsu! He's going to knock you away in one hit again!" Happy grunted as he tried pulling Natsu back by tugging on his shirt as he flew. Natsu continued pressing forward until he felt a hand placed firmly on his shoulder. He turned around and was surprised to see Erza had stopped him.
"Natsu...for some reason, I just remembered your name…" Jellal commented. "I can see in your eyes that my actions in the past have wronged you both. Allow me to atone for my sins…"
Erza's eyes widened as she saw Jellal turn back around and put his hand on the beam.
"Jellal you don't mean-"
A strange, circuit-like purple formation began to spread from Jellal's palm onto the pillar, extending outwards as it traveled up the large beam of black light. Jellal collapsed to the ground.
"Jellal!" Erza yelled as she ran to his side.
"Jellal, he's…" Natsu said to himself in disbelief.
Erza kneeled down next to Jellal and grabbed his collar.
"You can't die like this! This is not the way to make amends for what you've done!"
"A square of self destruction?" A voice said from behind them. Erza and Natsu turned around and saw Brain walking up to them with a wide grin on his face.
"You…" Natsu glared at Brain.
"Get out of my way you pest." Brain said. He glared back at Natsu and raised his staff up in the air. However Brain's glare vanished and his eyes widened as he felt a looming magical presence. He looked up in the sky, prompting both Natsu and Erza to also look up into the sky. A figure with jet black wings was hovering over them.
"Meliodas!" Natsu grinned.
Meliodas rapidly descended to the ground in front of Brain and his black wings disappeared.
"Well well well, I can't just sit by and let you activate this thing can I?"