The closet was half empty; only men's clothes and hangers remained. A large suitcase was placed on the bed filled to the brim with all types of women's clothes, two men's shirts that were wrinkled but neatly folded on top.
"Jellal?!" A woman's voice called from the kitchen.
"Yes?" Jellal had answered from the living room in an exasperated tone.
The woman dressed in armor that was recently shines had the cabinets open with various snacks strewn across the counter as if they had been thrown blindly onto it.
"Should I bring snacks along?" She asked hurriedly and innocently as her habit of overpacking isn't apparent to her.
"No, Erza. They'll provide meals and you can probably find food in the hotel." He says in a calm, reassuring voice.
"Alright," Erza says reluctantly and puts the snacks back in their respective spots in the cabinets as quickly as she had dug them out. She walks into the living room and stops a few feet from the middle of the entrance to the room looking at the packing job intently.
"What is it?" Jellal asks walking up behind her.
"I believe I have all that I need." She spoke under to her breath to herself, but it was loud enough for Jellal to hear.
"Yes, you do." He said evenly
She stared at the pile a few more moments in a daze before she suddenly broke it and turned to him and exclaimed, "Yus!"
She walked past Jellal and down the hallway into the bedroom that they shared and forced her last suitcase to close before rolling it to the rest of the suitcases in the living room. After placing it among the others, she re-quipped into her Heart Kreuz pajamas and unceremoniously plopped onto the couch and sighed.
Jellal had been keeping clear of Erza's way, knowing it was unwise to interfere when she was preparing for a trip. His face usually soft around Erza was hardened. His muscles were tense forcing his face into an emotionless state, except for the slight downturn of the corners of his mouth. Erza had noticed this but did not outwardly acknowledge it until she was sure that she was ready for her job. She turned her head around to look at him.
"What's wrong Jellal?"
"Hm?" He said as if he wasn't sure what she was referring to, but he had a certain rigidity to his tone that suggested otherwise. "Nothing's wrong." He tried to soften his tone to seem as though he was being truthful but Erza knew him much better than to fall for his poor attempts at lying to her. Erza raised her eyebrows slightly and upturned one corner of her mouth, letting him know she knew he was trying to deceive her. Jellal sighed knowing he had failed and walked the rest of the way into the living room and lightly sat down on the couch on the complete opposite side from Erza. He leaned back into the corner of the end of the couch, extending his arms onto the armrest and the back of the couch.
"…I don't want you to leave for your job…" He finally admitted in an embarrassed sigh looking at the space of couch in-between their bodies.
"Oh Jellal…" Erza said a smile forming on her face as she said that and moved closer to him taking him into her arms effortlessly. It was as if her body knew exactly where and how to hold him to comfort him. "I know you don't, but I have to go." She said in a sweet whisper to her child-like lover.
He just sighs in response and leans his weight into her.
"It's only nine days and I will find time to talk with you, I promise." She said in the same whisper running her hands through his hair slowly.
"It's not the same…" He whines.
"I'll miss you too." She smiles and answers.
They both pause in silence for a minute enjoying the warmth of each other's touch.
"Just don't get sick or injured or do anything stupid while I'm gone. Okay?" She says in a motherly tone.
"Alright." He answers obediently.
She kisses the top of his head and slowly lowers their bodies horizontally on the couch. His head lands on her chest as they lay back and they intertwine their legs. They laid like this for mere moments before a communications lacrima pinged with the tone of an incoming call. Erza sighed and sat up removing Jellal from her chest and placing his head into her lap as she took the lacrima from the waistband of her pajamas and answered it. Loud shouts in the background were drowning out the words of a terrified Wendy pleading for Erza to come to the guild and break up a fight that had started.
"I have to take care of this while Master is away." She sighed.
"I'll come with you."
"No, the last thing I need is another person to deal with." She said a bit too harshly.
Jellal looked down and got off Erza's lap and freed his legs from hers so she could easily get up. She left quietly closing the front door before she re-quipped black winged armor and flapped her wings hard taking off toward the guild arriving there in less than ninety seconds.
When she arrived, she landed quietly and then beat her wings as hard as she could without taking off the ground slamming the large guild doors open. The whole guild fell silent and stared wide-eyed at the now open doors except for two members who continued bickering in the center of the guild. Everyone else parted a path for Erza to the center wordlessly. As they parted, a pink haired boy covered in flame and a black-haired boy with a large hammer of ice in his hands were bickering with their foreheads pressed against each other, still oblivious to Erza's presence.
"Hot Head!"
"Ice Heart!"
"Take that back!"
Erza calmly and slowly entered the guild her eyes slowly turning a deep red that matched her hair. She became engulfed in a red aura that surrounded the outline of her body contrasting the jet-black armor that shone with a semi-gloss finish on the metal alloy. As Erza reached the halfway point to the two mages, they simultaneously noticed the strong magic that radiated near them and they ceased bickering and turned slowly away from each other to the demon like creature approaching them. Upon registering what they were seeing, they shuddered as their faces filled with dread and they fell to their knees pleading for forgiveness through the stuttering of apologies. Erza did not break her calm demon like walk toward them until she landed a yard from them stopping abruptly letting her foot fall harder onto the ground which made the boys before her jump in fear. They stutter as their voices raise tone in pleading apologies but Erza continues forward and bangs their heads together, knocking them both out.
The guild was silent, a feather could hit the ground and it would be heard, as Erza picked the two boys up carefully placing them over her shoulder and placing them into beds in the infirmary down the hallway. She tucked them in gingerly and returned to the guildhall stopping to face everyone as they fearfully stared at her.
"Any other problems?" She asked calmly a commanding air to her voice.
She is answered by nervous head shakes of no.
"I have an early departure tomorrow. I demand that there be no more interruptions tonight. Understood?"
Everyone nods yes, and she walks out with the same pace that she had walked in with her aura disappearing as she left. She closed the large doors gingerly behind her. She continued into town until she arrived at her usual bakery. She walked inside and was greeted cheerily by the baker who owned the shop.
"Ah! Erza! How many cakes today?" He smiled.
"Just one piece today." She said smirking.
"One piece?! Are you ill?" He asked genuinely concerned earning a chuckle from Erza.
"No, I leave for an S-Class mission tomorrow. I only require one piece for breakfast."
"Oh, Okay then. One piece of strawberry cake it is!" He said as he moved to the display case slicing a piece of a strawberry cake for her and boxing it neatly before handing it to her. She hands him the appropriate amount of payment and leaves with a small wave goodbye before she opens the door and walks out into the street. She effortlessly flew up into the air flying over the town and over the beginning of the woods seeing the trees that were beginning to bloom with spring flowers.
'It's beautiful here…Jellal would enjoy this.' She thought to herself as she watched the different colors of the tree blossoms pass quickly under her, blurring together in a beautiful display of color.
- END OF CHAPTER 1-