Say congrats to ***** and ****, Mr and Ms *******, who just got married! The song that was in this was Jason Mraz's "Don't give up," but somebody [I'll leave it anonymous,] left a message remembering the No Lyrics rule. So, this fic is now based ***** and ****'s wedding song...
Disclaimer, I DO NOT own zee Fairy Tail, or zee song! :3
Erza leaned over the balcony, staring out at sea. Team Natsu had completed another mission, and they had gathered enough Jewels for an extra night at a sea-side resort. Erza had enjoyed it, but it was nighttime and she simply relaxed, watching the sky fade from blue to black, and listened to the slow, steady crash of the waves.
In the background, she heard a song starting in the late-night ballroom not too far from their suite. It reminded her of her childhood, the slowly ebbing blue, quiet swoosh of the water, and the slow music humming from the windows. The Tower of Heaven. The Scarlet smiled sadly and her head dropped.
They were so close.
The scarlet-haired slave, only eleven years old, pressed her back to the wall, very aware of the snarling guard dog's teeth barely a meter away from her. It snarled, drips of saliva falling from its fangs, tugging on the thin piece of rope the soldiers called a leash. They surrounded her and her friends, who had tried so hard to escape. Their backs were pressed into the dirt wall, almost like it could liquefy and bring them through it to escape the grinning guards.
They had made it far, farther than they expected, but, in the end, they had been caught. Erza was well-aware they would all be punished and forced to work again.
That is, if they survive the punishment.
They were all wearing baggy, dirty gray sacks with arm-holes cut through them, and greenish, too-loose trousers. The material of their clothing was scratchy and incredibly uncomfortable, but it was all they had to wear. Every day, they had to work, shoveling, building, and finally, a certain group of six kids had had enough. They made their escape, and now they were in trouble.
Erza was well aware of the 'disappearances' of the punished slaves. All too very aware. The red-haired slave named Erza swallowed; closing her eyes, wishing it would all go away. For a moment, there was a stirring in her gut, but it disappeared as a guard-dog snapped at her again, breaking her focus.
"Think you can make your escape so easily, little brats?" a fat guard wearing a green cloak and a mask demanded. Erza winced; he was one of the commanders, and he was known to be very cruel. Beside him was a skinny, taller man, wearing a blue cloak. Another commander, wearing the Tower Of Heaven mask that all the guards wore.
"Especially now, when we need the R-system finished as soon as possible?" the fat guard's lips spat slightly on every word, flicking saliva everywhere. The slave kids winced and continued their terrified shaking. The guards seemed to enjoy that as they let their hold on the angry, spitting dogs go a little, making them tremble more.
"Wait up. At this rate, we'll be really behind schedule. I was planning to send you all to that room, but..." the taller commander thought for a moment, smirking. "Who was the mastermind behind this escape? We will only apprehend that one." Behind Erza, little Sho flinched and started really crying. It was him, who was daring enough to suggest it. He was the one who made the escape plan. The little boy shook with a quick inhale.
"Aren't we kind?" the man grinned gruesomely. Erza felt her throat tighten; she couldn't breathe. Little Sho would not be able to handle the punishments.
The green guard stomped his staff on the ground. "Spit it out!" he roared. "Who was the culprit!" the kids flinched.
Erza send a glance at little Sho, who was sobbing, with huge trembles that wracked through his body. She opened her mouth, looking up at the guards, but someone was faster, standing up in front of their little band of misfits.
"It was me!" the blue-haired boy announced. He glared at the cruel guards with dark chocolate eyes, almost a challenge not to ignore him. The little boy looked fierce, a red tattoo lining his right cheek and forehead. "I came up with the plan and led them all!"
Erza couldn't believe her eyes. Jellal, the boy she looked up to, was standing up to the guards to protect them. More tears filled her brown orbs.
"Oh..?" the two commanders pondered for a second or two. "I see." The tall man peered back at the children.
"No, it wasn't you." He sneered, eyes fixing on one of the slaves. "It was that girl," he pointed to Erza, and the girl looked up in surprise and fear.
"Apprehend her," the guard snapped. The girl scrambled away, only for her arms to be pinned down as she was lifted a foot off the ground. Her friends cried out and reached for her, but they were pushed aside by more guards blocking their way. They continued to fight, arms stretching around, hoping to grab onto something.
"No! It was me, it was me all along!" Erza dimly heard Jellal cry. She was held backwards, so she could see the retreating figures of the fight. The fat guard held up his staff and a Magic Circle opened up beneath Jellal and Simon, the two fighting most. They screamed, but Jellal got up, still protesting. "It wasn't Erza!" he shouted.
The words send a bundle of warmth through her, but she continued looking down at the floor. "I'll be fine," she said, stomach clenching. It was a lie, but she had to, at least try, and reassure her friends. "I'm going to be alright."
"Erza!" Jellal screamed, supporting Simon. She locked gazes with the sky-haired boy. He looked desperate, reaching through as if to grab onto her arm, even though he was much too far away.
"It's just as you said, Jellal, I definitely won't be scared." She smiled, because she needed it just as much as he did. Inside, she was crying, fearing the least they could probably do to her, but she smiled widely, hoping it would do something to reassure them. Not just them, but most of all, Him. Because he was the boy she looked up to.
"Erza... Erza!"
The girl, tied up to the post, dimly heard thuds and the ugly sound of scraping metal against metal outside, but she couldn't even muster the energy to look up. Everything hurt.
A stream of blood ran down her face, and dripped down to join the scarlet puddle on the floor. Erza was straddling the line between consciousness and unconsciousness as a familiar blue-haired boy ran in, holding a sword.
"Erza..! Erza!" he cried out when he saw her. "Hey, hold yourself together!" he said when he saw the scarlet trembling. He would only imagine the horrors she was put up to. Jellal's favorite scarlet looked weak and for a moment, he was deathly afraid of the pool of blood at her feet, but he quickly untied her bonds, and she fell down, but he held her up so he could see her face.
For a moment, he couldn't believe it. He gasped.
"Y-Your eye..."
Jellal held the girl closer, because she had started to sob uncontrollably. Every breath hurt, but the tears flowed down one side of her face. Tears filled his eyes too at the horrible things they had done to his friend.
"What horrible things did they do to you, Erza?"
"What horrible thing did we do to deserve this?"
Jellal, supporting a severely damaged Erza, walking slowly down the halls back to the others. The girl had opened her one remaining eye but could barely support her own weight. Every step hurt, but she didn't voice her complaints. Jellal was trying as hard as he could not to move her around too much.
"You know, there's no turning back now." she raised her orb and looked at him dully, not noticing the alarm drone behind them.
"We have to fight." He announced quietly.
"Fight..?" The words barely registered in Erza's mind, but before she could respond more than that, the two were surrounded by Magic Circles opening up in the ground. They rang, sounding off the alarm, and figures rose out of them.
"Dammit!" Jellal muttered, trying to face all four enemies while holding the limp girl. "The Magical Troopers?"
"I wonder if Nee-san is alright?" Sho wondered aloud, concerned. Jellal had announced he was rescuing Erza, but everyone else didn't dare even risk it. Erza would be dead at this point.
"Rob-ojiisan, you went into that room and survived, right?" a concerned Simon asked. "What in the world is that place?"
"I think Erza-chan will be fine," the elderly man said. He was old and sickly thin, but he wore a smile on his face. "As long as your heart is strong, they won't be able to steal your soul." He was wise, and all the children looked up to him as their guardian, but the old Rob was concerned. He honestly didn't know what state Erza was in, or even if she was alive.
Suddenly, the gates to their cell opened, and everyone looked at the girl who was thrown in. The kids all cried out and ran to Erza, who was sprawled on the ground, struggling to get up. A guard wheeled past her with a cart full of mining supplies.
"Time for work!" he sneered, waiting for the dumb slaves to get their shovels and get to work.
"Leave her alone, she's too weak to work!" Millianna cried, holding her small hands protectively over the scarlet's body.
"Just be glad that's she's alive." Rod said, standing up with effort. "But... They probably took Jellal as a replacement."
Sho started to sob again, seeing his Nee-san hurt so much she could barely stand. "No more..." he whimpered. "I can't stand this anymore!" the poor boy burst into tears, and Rob moved to comfort him.
"It'll be fine, I'm here for you." He muttered calming words to the crying boy.
"Oh, shut your mouth. Prepare yourself for work!" the guard jeered.
Sho screamed, and something in Erza snapped. Jellal's words flooded into her mind. We have to fight. Hatred flooded through her veins, and she started to tremble violently. Her pupils contracted and her breathing turned heavy. Before she knew it, she'd grabbed a shovel from the cart and had swung it around. It felt... almost natural in her hands as she brought it down on a guards head. In the blink of an eye, she'd brought two more down.
"A Rebellion!" a fallen soldier cried, before the shovel hit him once more in the head and he fell unconscious. Erza spun around, the words falling from her mouth like she'd studied them the whole of her life.
"Take their weapons!" she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the tower, making her voice boom, "Even if we obey them, or we run away from them, we will never be free! We have no choice but to fight!" the other slave listened to her words, mouths falling open at the kind girl that now looked like a fallen, avenging angel. Her eyes sparked angrily as she wielded the shovel like it was an expert weapon.
"For our freedom! We must fight!"
For Jellal... we must fight.
Erza had grabbed a sword, kicking yet another guard and slicing her staff to pieces. She gasped, but the girl used the handle of her sword to hit the guard on the head hard. The woman collapsed, and the Scarlet knight moved onto the next, who was chanting a spell at her friends. Erza butted him with her shield, then sliced his robes to shreds, and the man was thrown away by the sheer force of her attacks.
She didn't like attacking people much, but a sense of duty commanded her arms and legs to fight with all she had. They deserved retribution to what they all did.
Everyone grouped back together. "We need to liberate section 8 by the end of the day!" Erza commanded. Sections three through seven were free, and there were nine sections. The tenth section was where Jellal was held. "Everyone, keep it up!"
The slaves were doing fine, raiding each section with the help of their small commander Erza, but some were quite damaged. All of the ex-slave children were bruised and cut and bloody, but each had a shovel or pickaxe in their hands and prepared to take over another part of the tower.
"It's impossible! There are too many guards there!" Simon protested.
Erza knew everyone was tiring. "But... we have to hurry and rescue Jellal..." she slouched a bit, eyes tearing up. She was beyond exhausted and her burst of adrenaline had faded, making her new wounds hurt again and her bones creak.
Simon's eyes softened for the girl, and Wally snuck up behind him, whispering something into the brunet's ear. Simon flushed and suddenly blurted out, "Erza, are you in love with Jellal?" he asked, facing turning red. Erza blushed at the sudden question.
"Why are you bringing this up at a time like this? Now's not the time to..." she looked down embarrassingly, trying to shake off the red on her cheeks. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't!
Simon noted that she didn't actually answer the question. "Actually, it's because I—"
Suddenly, everyone was blown back by an explosion.
She woke up on the beach that night, deposited gently on the shores of what she would later know as Fiore. For a moment, she couldn't move, merely fisting the soft, cold sand in her hands. She struggled up to her hands and knees, the memories of how she got there coming back to her in a flash.
Tears welled in her eyes. Jellal was evil. Rob was dead. Her friends were out there, continuing to build the R-system while she was out here.
Jellal was right. Under the cruelty of others, she would never be free. She was burdened with the weight that her friend's lives depended on her.
Erza's head hung low as swallowed a big gulp of air and screamed into the night, the sounds of the waves mingling with the long, haunting sound. Slowly, it died off, leaving her in silence.
The scarlet collapsed into the sand, her small body wracked with sobs. She cried for everything, but most of all, because she had lost Jellal.
She'd joined a guild, Fairy Tail, and soon, her great Magic Power had given her the nickname 'Titania.' She was one of the strongest of the younger female mages in the guild, but she was cold and restricted.
"Hey, why do you wear your armor all the time?" the Ice-mage named Gray demanded. Erza didn't reply. Her attire had changed; she wore a simple white dress with a breast plate on top. Without it, she felt lonely, so she always wore it.
"Why are you naked all the time?" she replied smartly, making the raven-haired boy look down and yelp, running off to find his clothing. Erza frowned and continued eating quietly in the corner of the guild hall.
She wore her armor because it protected her. Not because she needed it physically, but because if she let it off, there was nothing protecting her heart. It was broken inside, but her armor would protect her. She wasn't strong and couldn't hold the pieces together on her own.
The pieces Jellal had ripped away from her heart.
Maybe that was why she always wore it.
Erza, in her Japanese cloth armor, straddled the blue-haired man on the ground, the long blade pointing at his throat. Her free hand gripped his wrist mercilessly, and she glared at the boy below her. He swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing.
He regained his composure quickly though. She just didn't understand. "Three minutes until Etherion," he told her, smirking. Even if she held him here for three minutes, it would all be finished.
She snarled, gripping his wrist tighter. "Jellal! Your dream is over! It was over a long time ago! Do you want to die, right here, right now?" she screamed. He winced at the pressure put on his arm; she was squeezing with incredible force.
"If so, then die with me! I'll hold you down right here until that final moment arrives!"
"Y-yeah... that doesn't sound too bad." He said on the ground. Erza recoiled, breath turning heavy, and lessened the grip on his wrist. Only slightly though.
"My body was possessed by the ghost of Zeref. There was nothing I could do. I was nothing more than a doll, working to bring about Zeref's resurrection," he told her.
"P-Possessed?" The scarlet fought with herself. She wanted so bad to believe him, it was a good point that he so suddenly changed. The Jellal after the breakout wasn't the one she knew. He was the boy she looked up to, the leader, the strong one, suddenly he turned his back on the slave-kids and left Erza to fight alone. Jellal would never do that.
But it could very well be a trick...
"In the end, I couldn't save myself. My nakama couldn't either... there was nobody who could save me..." he smirked, eyes glazed over like he was looking back on an old memory. "Paradise... Freedom... in the end, they were nowhere to be found."
"It was all over before it even begun."
Suddenly, the sky lit up.
"I can't stop this anymore... you win this fight. So please... kill me. That's what you came here for, right?" Jellal looked up, into her eyes. Erza's orbs widened, this was Jellal, but it was too late. His words soothed her anger and pain. She dropped her sword. It clattered to the ground.
"There's no need for me to even lift a finger," she whispered. "This rumbling... Etherion is already expanding above the tower. It's over. For you and for me." she got off the blue-haired male, moving instead to kneel beside him. He propped himself up on his elbows.
"You little idiot, you." He smiled, and Erza's eyes softened. "This is my sin, for giving up to my own weakness," he said, looking up at the golden sky, "my heart couldn't keep up with the giant gap between dreams and reality."
She smiled, looking over at him. There was no once of fear or panic of what was to come, she was simply content that her last moments would be with the true Jellal. It started with him, and it would end with him.
"But don't you think that burying your weaknesses, the things you lock deep, deeply away... isn't that what nakama are there for?" she asked.
He looked over at her in surprise, but his gaze softened. "Erza..."
"I have to atone as well, for not being able to save you." The ground rumbled and the sky let out a warning flash. The clouds started to spiral at dizzying speeds and the temperature rose drastically in the space of a few short seconds. Erza found herself falling forwards, and Jellal was here to catch her.
She smiled against his chest, feeling his arms wrap around her, and the world went white.
"But you did save me, Erza."
They met again, and now, shortly after, he was being taken away.
"Enough!" Erza shouted, flinging her hand out. A dozen groaning soldiers, broken staffs, and stirred dirt lay at her feet, as her team mates turned to look at her. Everyone, not daring to disobey the mighty Titania, stilled. Her eyes were hooded and her lips quivered. She was touched that her friends would not only fight for Jellal, but for her, because they all knew how important he was in her eyes.
"That's far enough!" she scolded, hand sinking down. "I apologize for the fuss we've caused here. I will take full responsibility." The scarlet told Commander Lahar. He looked surprised. She took in a deep gulp of air, trying to unclench her stomach and calm her nerves.
"Jellal... take him." she said, swallowing. The corners of her eye prickled, and she couldn't stop the faint trembling of her limbs.
The blue-haired man looked back at her, but slowly, he smiled faintly. It was Natsu who spoke. "But Er—"
"Shut up!" she roared, and the boy shrunk down onto his knees.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" she turned back to the guards and Jellal's retreating figure. Suddenly, his head rose.
"Wait..." he turned around, eyes twinkling in the darkness.
"It was the color of your hair." She recoiled; the seven words stopping her heart and making her stumble back. She wanted to scream, run after him, but the doors to the heavy prison-van closed and the soldiers shuffled away.
"Farewell, Erza."
So much had happened. She'd thought she'd never see him again.
"Can I think of you as the old Jellal?" Erza asked. They were standing on a rocky cliff, she was standing, staring at the waves, and Jellal sat on a rock, hands folded together, looking down.
"That would make me happy... but there's still what happened with Simon." He told her quietly. She looked over at him, eyes softening. A faint breeze played with their hair, also making Erza's nightgown and Jellal's cloak shift a little. The blue-haired man stared at his hands. "Although... I wouldn't blame you to keep your distance." The Scarlet Knight's heart gave a little squeeze. "And if you wish to... take revenge for Simon's death... I'm prepared to lay down my life."
Erza looked back at the sunset. "Do you think Simon would want that?" she asked, with a sigh, "You formed a guild in order to destroy other Dark Guilds. That's how you're atoning for your sins. That's what you're prepared to do!"
"I... I don't know."
"What?" Erza snapped, looking at him, voice rising. Her muscles had started to tense up, and her eyes were fierce.
"Certainly, I created Crime Sorciere in the beginning to make amends for my sins. But there's no way I can make up for what I did at the Tower of Heaven." Jellal's head hung low. "What am I doing this for? I can't get out of this maze in my mind."
"...Maybe I should just die."
Something in Erza snapped. She turned around to face him; hand pulled back, and slapped him across the face. The sound made a startling crack. Jellal's eyes were wide. "How... How can you act so cowardly?" Erza hissed, hands fisting.
"I'm not as strong as you are," he said, eyes downcast. Erza was not satisfied with the answer.
"So you can't live if you're not strong? Wrong! Living shows that you're strong!" she yelled. He didn't reply. Erza put her hands on his shoulders, almost like she was shaking sense into him. "You're not the old Jellal! You're not the Jellal who struggled desperately to survive!"
"That's not true..." he looked away, and finally, Erza had had enough.
"Why yo—" she picked his limp body up by his shirt, fisting it in her hands, but he wasn't expecting it and tumbled over the rock he was sitting on backwards. His first instinct was to grab onto something, which happened to be Erza's arm. She tumbled backwards on the rocky ground with him.
They grunted as they fell, either from the terrain jabbing into their stomachs or one landing on top of the other. They disturbed some resting, bulb-like plants, and in protest, they shot yellow, almost gold pollen in the air. With one final tumble, the ground leveled out, and now, Jellal was straddling Erza.
For what felt like millennia, they could only stare.
"I guess... You were always right," Jellal said softly.
"That's not true." Erza replied, lips open slightly, a blush beginning to taint her cheeks. "In my own clumsy way, I live my life to the fullest. That's all."
"Erza..." Before she knew it, her eyes prickled with tears. She raised an arm to shield them from the man above her, but her lip quivered and gave her away.
"I thought I'd never see you again," she told him. She cursed herself mentally for a moment because she sounded like a whiny child. She fought the water threatening to stream down her face, but she realized that she had nothing to hide from Jellal. Salty tears made way down her cheek, and slowly, almost cautiously, she raised her hands to caress his face, thumb moving across his tattoo.
"Jellal... I..." another tear track dropped, and Jellal wiped it away. Slowly, both inched forwards, mouths opening slightly, and their lips almost pressed together.
Until, Jellal pushed away. Erza's eyes widened; his hands were on her shoulders and they now had air between them. The blue-haired man looked away guiltily.
"I... can't. I have a... fiancée."
Erza gasped, a coat of red staining her face. She scrambled away fast. For a moment, there was an awkward silence. Jellal held his feet in a butterfly position not looking at Erza, who was biting her lip nervously.
"Oh, no... I, uh, wasn't thinking..." she cried, waving her hands in front of her face. Of course, she should have known better! She scolded herself. It has been seven years!
"No, it's my fault, I, uh, shouldn't have... I'm sorry." Jellal continued to look at his feet, face the colour of Erza's hair.
"Really? Congratulations, I didn't know!" Of course she didn't know, idiot! "Of course, seven years have passed, yeah!" she looked away, pretending to be very interested in a rock to the right of them. She couldn't help but notice his eyes were hooded.
Erza took a deep breath, trying to relax her nerves. "Is she dear to you?" she asked softly.
"... Yeah." He replied.
"Then you have to live for her sake, too." Both smiled, because they both knew the other was lying, for both their sakes. They looked down at the ground simultaneously.
"You're right." He said.
Soon, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy stood in front of Erza. Behind her, she could hear the screaming of her friends as Second Origin was opened up. Only the Scarlet was there to bid them farewell.
"Thanks to you, no one can move," Erza muttered, staring mostly at the Blue-haired figure in the trio. Ultear smiled tightly.
"Because of the nature of our guild, we can't stay in one place for too long." Jellal told her, face devoid of any emotion. "We're leaving."
Erza nodded, hands folded across her chest. "About the mysterious Magic power at the Grand Magic Games, if you find something out, report to us via pigeon." Meredy told the Knight.
"Understood."
"As for the competition, we'll be cheering you on from behind the scenes, so do your best." Ultear said, smiling.
The pink-haired girl pouted. "I wish we could see it for ourselves..." Ulter cracked a smile at the younger girl.
"Shall we go in disguise?"
"No," Jellal quickly interjected. He started pulling up his hood and turning around. He gave the redhead one last glance before his back faced her. "We'll meet again, Erza."
The Scarlet Knight watched their three retreating figures, until long last they disappeared around the rocky bend. She sighed, but decided it was for the best.
Erza looked up and sighed as the song finished. Within that timeframe, the twilight sky had faded to black. A soft breeze lifted her shiny, scarlet hair, and it began playing with the wind.
Despite all the sour memories, a small smile graced her lips. The woman shook her head and turned back to the suite gracefully, where Lucy, Gray, Natsu, and Happy were waiting for her. Jellal was out there, so she was content.
"My name? It's Erza. Just Erza."
"That's pretty sad."
"What?"
"I know! Erza Scarlet. The color of your hair. That way I'll never forget."
I wanted to write this because I just write WAY too much NaLu, and wanted to try something else for a change, and "Don't give up" was the song for a wedding I recently attended. Say congrats too Mr and Mrs *******! This is also for all the JeRza fans and all the people who Favourited, Followed, or Reviewed on my stories! I love you all!
I ship JeRza, but NaLu is so easy to write! ARG! I'm planning on writing some GaLe and GrUvia too later on. I do requests for one-shots and art! Give me an idea and I WILL WRITE/DRAW IT! [I AM NOT A CREDIT HOGGER, LOL!] [If you'd like to see some of my work, the coverpage for The Chances, on my profile, is my work!]
I love you all! *gets teary eyed*
[For all you people who are wondering why the new Chappy for T.C, it's because I'm on a trip. Yeah, totally forgot to mention to you guys... Whoops.]