"Hey!"
"Hey."
"You know this is our spot, Erza!" He shouted up at her. His friends shouted in agreement with him.
They stood in the heat of a breezy afternoon in Magnolia. Clouds were scarce, as usual, and birds chirped every now and then, informing everyone of their presence. The trees fought for a place in their conversation, the leaves on their branches rustling soundly from the wind. The kids of Fairy Tail suburban community hardly heard them.
Indignant shouts were promptly brushed off without much concern. Erza didn't even glance at them; she couldn't be bothered. She pretended to be inspecting her nails. "Yeah, well, I've decided that it's ours now." she said, and she and her friends chuckled and smirked, their intentions all evil.
Jellal wasn't pleased. In front of his scowling face, he shook one fist. "Get down from there, Erza, and face me like a woman!" Again, support rang as a cacophony from his friends. It was a good minute before they quieted down. Jellal then placed his hands just beneath his armpits, then flapped his arms mockingly. "Or are you too chicken?"
Erza's attention was suddenly received.
All of Jellal's posse went wild. They "oh'ed" and "aw'ed" and mimicked their leader, all of them taunting Erza and her group, silencing the birds in the trees.
Erza glared down at Jellal with eyes like daggers. Her own clique started booing at Jellal's, the chickens on the grass and mulch of the community park unrelenting. The trees settled. But only for a bit.
Erza came down from her perch on top of the monkey bars. She stared at Jellal squarely, her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for him to stop squawking. He didn't.
"Shut up, Jellal. This is annoying and pathetic."
Jellal stuck his tongue out at her.
Erza's hands turned into fists at her sides. She stalked towards him. I swear he is so childish sometimes. When she was right in front of him, he smirked, seemingly forgetting just who he was messing with.
She punched him in the face.
"Yeah, alright!" Natsu, one of Erza's more eccentric childhood friends, exclaimed. Erza ignored him. She smirked back at Jellal who was holding his red, already puffy, cheek.
Jellal just kept smirking. It was an odd, surreptitious smirk that silenced children on both sides who hadn't already shut their mouths. An evil chuckle left his lips. "Oh, Erza," he chuckled some more, a little darker this time, "Don't you know this means war?"
"Yeah, war!" a fourth grader named Shô sneered. He was one of the youngest of Jellal's friends and of the kids in the neighborhood. He was known for his habit of following Jellal around and echoing everything he said. Jellal never seemed to really mind it.
Erza couldn't care less about it. War was her speciality. She was going to grind Jellal's annoying face into the dirt and then literally kick his entire group of friends out of the park. Literally. It would be awesome.
"We heard you, pint size!" Gray called back. He was a fifth grader like Erza, and one of her other childhood friends like Natsu. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, smirked at a fuming Shô (he never seemed to understand the concept of wearing a shirt).
Erza met Jellal's gaze evenly, unaffected by his evil stare. A darkness of her own washed over her face. She placed her hands haughtily on her hips. "Oh? I like war."
"Then let's play a game." Jellal suggested.
The other children in the park felt chills. There was no telling what would happen when Jellal and Erza went to war. And there was no way they were getting out of it.
Erza held out her hand. Jellal took it. They shook hands in an official agreement of war, then held on. The terms of war hadn't been laid out yet.
"Capture the flag." Jellal chose first.
"Agreed," Erza said, "dodgeball?"
Jellal shrugged. "Agreed. Pranks-"
"Childish." Erza said, frowning. She squeezed Jellal's hand a little harder.
"Fine, fine. Football?" Jellal gave instead.
"Agreed. Knights and Dragons?" Erza suggested with a smirk.
Jellal was cautious. "Agreed." he said anyway, confident he would win the majority of the battles anyway.
Erza and Jellal squeezed the other's hand even harder before shaking them once, then releasing. By now their friends were behind them.
"Strong grip." Jellal said to Erza while lightly shaking his hand.
Erza showed her discomfort less. "You too."
Those were the last words they exchanged before walking off into different directions, their friends following them. War would commence the following day.
Only the birds bore witness to this agreement between children.
It was hotter that day than yesterday. The day of the war.
Jellal and his crew were on the jungle gym, prepping for what was to come. Their flag was red and attached to a slim pole they somehow managed to balance on top of the jungle. Jellal went over some battle strategies, but only briefly; he was sure half of his team wouldn't understand them and the other half would just ignore them. Still, it was the nature of the thing that mattered.
Erza's team was stationed at the highest point of the castle, mainly relaxing. Their flag was blue and poised oddly atop the midsection of the monkey bars. They had a lot of confidence in themselves: Erza because she was boss, and the boys because they were just a tad bit cocky. Lucy and Juvia, the other members of Team Erza, liked to think that their team as a collective would be able to win as well.
The rules were simple: five persons to a team, three rounds a game, and each game ended either when a flag was captured, or when everyone on the opposing team was eliminated (tagging got you eliminated).
Soon, both Team Erza and Team Jellal were ready to begin. The count down was given by Natsu, who was eager to start. "Threetwoone,go!"
At least four people from each team moved immediately. Two his, two ran into the fray, and one ream member was left by the flag to protect it.
Towards the very beginning of the game, Shô and a small girl named Milliana from Jellal's team were both tagged and out. Natsu and Gray smirked at their success and went straight for Simon and Wally. The two boys were hidden somewhere between the castle and the jungle gym. Lucy and Juvia came out from hiding as well.
Jellal watched the progression of the game from where he sat by the flag. He figured Erza's team would dominate the first round, there was no doubt about that. But he was a strategist, and there was no way he would let Erza beat him at his best game.
As he expected, Erza stayed back for the first round, and Gray and Natsu won the first game with their ability to quickly diminish enemy numbers. However, Jellal was aware that this would happen.
As long as Erza is guarding the flag, none of his team members will be able to retrieve it. But Erza was never one to just sit and stay, not during war. Jellal anticipated that Erza would play on the front lines for the second round.
He was right, so he planned accordingly.
Wally, Shô, and Milliana would act as distractions for Natsu, Erza, and Gray while Simon went for the enemy flag. Lucy doesn't care much for chasing people around, and with Juvia as the flag protector, Simon should be able to snatch it easily.
Getting it back would be the hard part.
"So Erza," Jellal starts from beside his flag, getting Erza's attention as she eliminates the Wally, "I'm wondering when you're going to apologize for taking my hang-out spot. You know, since I won it last time and you haven't beaten me yet."
As expected, Erza's face became red and she charged straight at him with Natsu and Gray right behind her. "You're going to apologize when I've got my fist in your face, Jellal!"
Jellal chuckled silently to himself as he watched them come, knowing Simon was already close by. All he had to do was stall for a while longer.
"I doubt that," he sneered at them as they started climbing up the jungle gym, Simon on the other side behind him. "You're much too slow! My grandma is faster than you!"
The seconds were slowly ticking by to his victory. Unfortunately, they were ticking a bit too slowly, and Natsu, Erza, and Gray made it up before Simon. Still, there was a chance.
"Not so high and mighty now, are ya?" Gray taunted. Jellal shrugged, put his hands up in mock surrender. "Eh, I'll admit I've been higher. Being on the same level as you guys is quite demeaning."
"Hey! Take that back!" Natsu shouted.
"Do you even understand what I've said, Dragneel?"
"Um. . no, but that doesn't matter! I know it was offensive!"
"That's enough talking," Erza interjected angrily, "hand over the flag, Jellal, before I make you."
"Hey," Jellal smirked, "It's all yours."
He moved aside in one fluid motion, revealing his team's flag and the blue one beside it, held by a tall boy with dark hair and a radiant smile on his face.
Erza looked like she wanted to crush his head.
The last round went generally the same way, except Jellal left the flag to Simon and he fought Gray for Erza's flag. The first battle went to Team Jellal.
"Jellal one, Erza zero!" Shô shouted in triumph as he high-fived his teammates. Erza was steaming, and Jellal was mildly concerned that she would punch Shô the way she did him.
"The war isn't over yet. I'll crush you in dodgeball."
And she did. Erza was toe-to-toe with only Milliana, who was zippy and small and could avoid her bullet-throws easier than others. But the younger girl just didn't have the same amount of stamina as Erza did. Erza ended up winning with pretty much no competition.
"We won't be tied for long!" Natsu jeered, "football ismysport! Ya should've picked somethin' else, Jellal!"
Jellal hardly registered Natsu had said a word. Instead, he focused on assigning positions based on his team members' strengths. Erza did the same.
Wally: Forward. Shô: Striker (he was small, but he had a killer kick). The midfield position belonged to Milliana; she was small and fast, and should
be able to counter quickly. Jellal, of course, would be the Sweep. Simon was to be the goalie because of his larger stature and good hands.
The Forward would be Gray and Natsu was his Striker; they argued a lot, but they made a bad-ass team when they worked together. Erza claimed Midfielder, as it was the more crucial position in terms of her team's functionality. Lucy was her support as Sweeper, and the team's goalie was Juvia. It was the best they could do with five people instead of eleven, and Erza was confident.
Erza's team crushed Jellal in the first half, ten-zero. Try as he might to fill in behind Milliana and the holes in their defense, he was just once person, and there were too many holes. He had to change something.
He pushed Milliana to Sweep, with no intention of letting her sweep up anything. He moved Wally to midfield and left everyone else where they were. He became forward. As Forward, Jellal would be able to enforce more points. A strong defense wouldn't be enough.
Into the fray he went. He fought hard, scored a total of seven points with his striker and three without. Jellal even managed to score a few points against Erza, who had strategically moved to goalie once he became the forward.
Alas, his efforts were for naught: while he had a proficiency in the sport, his team was somewhat lagging, and with beasts as hyper and active as Natsu and Gray, their defense didn't stand a chance. His team lost twenty-eleven.
"Erza two, Jellal one!" Natsu exclaimed with a blistering grin, "eat it, suckers!"
"Sportsmanship foul!" Simon called, his face grumpy. No one liked a sore loser or a braggart winner.
"Natsu, you idiot!" Erza shouted at him as she knocked him over the head, "unsportsmanlike conduct is an automatic point to the opposing team!"
"Way to go, loser!" Gray joined in. His team (mainly Erza and Gray) bickered with him on the subject for a while, attempting to get him to understand the difference between peaceful rejoice and snotty victory.
Eventually, the children simmered down and gave Natsu a break, but it didn't change the sourness of Erza's teammates. Jellal smirked surreptitiously, held back a chuckle; an angry team was the easiest to make dysfunctional. All it took was a few meaningless words.
Even if Knights and Dragons was Erza's domain, he stood a chance. Tactics won a war, not blind patriotism, optimism, and faith.
Knights could have swords- which were fake- and shields, and dragons could have fire- which, of course, was also fake- and protective scales. The game was won by eliminating all opposing team members. Either you were stabbed or burned to death; the gruesomeness of the game never seemed to bother anyone other than their parents.
It was a game they made up one day, when Erza and Natsu had a dispute about which would win in a fight against each other: a knight or a dragon. Erza valiantly proved that knights were superior; however, Natsu was stubborn and wanted many rematches. The fight eventually turned into a game and stuck.
It had been long noted that Erza was just a bit of a tomboy, so when she branded a wooden sword and shield from home, none of the other kids were surprised. Gray was equipped with a clear, plastic sword that resembled ice, and refused to use a shield. Natsu was complaining that he'd rather be a dragon than a knight; knights were "lame dudes in tights and stiff metal."
"Do I hear mutiny?"
The phrase left his mouth, and that was all it took to create actual mutiny.
Jellal smiled to himself once the terms were set: Natsu would transfer to his team for the final round for his chance to be a dragon. Simon would join Erza's team because "knights are pretty cool." (Jellal knew Simon actually had a crush on Erza. He never uttered the fact to another living soul, though; not even to Simon himself) Lucy and Juvia had decided not to play- they weren't really interested in getting bruised because of one of the boys' stupidity. Shô and Milliana were benched also as a result; to even out the teams, and to keep the smallest from getting hurt.
The dragons all wore vests that acted as their protective scales. If they were hit elsewhere, they'd die immediately. Their fire was actually the exact opposite: water guns filled to the brim with warm liquid (Natsu insisted on dying his orange). Any knight hit with water would melt away on impact.
"Charge!" Erza gave a mighty battle shout, totally overdramatizing the situation. The other boys didn't care though, just took the opportunity to scream like wild animals while they could. Jellal shook his head at their foolishness.
Mini anarchy ensued on the green fields between the jungle gym and the castle. Natsu sprayed wildly and like crazy while the others fought. Gray was eliminated naturally, by way of a rather poor decision to not use a shield. His eager advance on Natsu was not so much gutsy as it was stupid. Natsu made sure to make fun of him for that, though when he ran out of water, he realized how much of a disadvantage he had put himself in as well; he was no better than Gray.
As Natsu attempted to get away from the scourge of battle to reload his gun, he was stopped abruptly by a sharp pain on his head. He could already feel a lump forming there, bruised and blue. He held the spot he'd been hit with his hands, then spun on his assailant. "Hey! What's the big idea?"
"You're a mutinous traitor!" A voice shouted at him with a forcefulness no child should have, "This his your punishment for abandoning the kingdom! Be glad, for you deserve far worse!"
Natsu shrank a little when he realized it was a pissed-off Erza. She was quite the medieval force, certainly not one to be reckoned with, and her aura was very imposing at the moment.
"S-Sorry, Erza. But Kamī, you hit like a bull!"
"What did you call me?" Erza raised her sword threateningly.
"Nothing!"
Natsu was cornered and sure that he was about to die. However, when Erza raised her hand higher to strike him again, she froze.
"Not so fast, Scarlet."
Only one person called Erza Belserion by that name; that infernal name. Erza lowered her sword and turned around, towards the person behind her. Natsu was shocked to find a large water glob on the back of Erza's shirt.
"Jellal." she seethed. Natsu scampered away while he could.
"I do believe dead men tell no tales, Scarlet."
"Stop calling me that! You chicken boy! I'll have your head!"
"Let's not do anything illegal," Jellal suggested, really very fond of his body's capping, "just tell me where Simon is. This'll all be over after that, and you can go back to scaring little boys for their lunch money."
"I recommend you don't defile me," Erza suddenly smirked, a hand on her hip, "that's how you die."
Jellal stood stock still at her proclamation. Before he could do anything about it, a wooden sword was pressed to his back; he'd been stabbed.
"Simon," Jellal said with dramatic appall, "how could you?"
"Sorry, brother."
"You're no brother of mine. . ." They were best friends, practically family, and he had just been stabbed in the back. It hurt to say the least. Jellal dropped to his knees dramatically, and died silent on the ground.
Then he sprung up and laughed with Simon for a moment.
"You got me good."
"I know, right? You were totally unsuspecting!"
Erza watched the exchange in fascination, wondering why a betrayal was taken so lightly. Perhaps her medieval spirit was too serious. . .
No, they were definitely taking it too lightly.
The fact made her remember the traitor she still had to deal with. Only, it was too late. When she saw Natsu next, he was shooting Simon with his recently refilled water gun. Simon melted.
"Alright!" Natsu cheered, the dummy not understanding that he just sentenced his original group to giving up prized land. Jellal chuckled and shook his head; Erza face-palmed. Natsu, he- . . he just- . . . jeez.
All those words about sweet revenge were lies; it felt no different after being exacted than before. Jellal and his friends were chilling indifferently at their perfect hanging spot within Fairy Tail's community park. Half of them were bored, the other half was Jellal and Simon who were both playing a game of cards on the castle steps.
"Got any threes?" Jellal asked.
"Yeah," Simon handed over his cards bitterly. He'd been on a losing streak recently.
"Any nines?"
Simon sighed. "How do you always know what cards I have?"
Jellal deadpanned. "Simon, your cards are flat down, face-up."
Simon flushed in embarrassment. "O-Oh."
They droned the game on for a while longer before Simon just gave up. They decided to cloud gaze on the fields instead.
"Hey, Jellal?"
"Hm?" Jellal hummed, his eyes closed peacefully as he basked in the hot Magnolia sun.
"I've- . . . I've got a confession to make."
"Speak your mind, brother." Jellal reassured him in his odd way of speaking. Most kids learned to just get used to it.
"IhaveacrushonErza." Simon rushed his sentence.
"Yeah, I know."
". . . Wait, what?"
Jellal sat up and sighed, looked at his best friend evenly. "If you pay enough attention, you become aware of the smallest of things. I just noticed; a long time ago."
"How long ago, exactly?" Simon asked Jellal, bashful and nervous. He got into his nervous tick of tapping the pads of his fingers against one another.
"Long ago, brother," Jellal patted Simon on the back roughly, "long ago."
Simon sort of sulked and Jellal chuckled at his friend's insecurities. He tried to make light of the situation as best he could, help his family cope with embarrassment and help himself feel less queasy. The queasiness wouldn't go away, though.
Because he couldn't bring himself to be as honest as his brother.
"Whadaya want, chicken boy?"
"Very funny, Gray."
"I've got a lot more than that if you'd like to hear some more?"
"I'll pass, thanks," Jellal held up a hand to gesture for him to stop, "where's Erza?"
"Why should we tell you?" Natsu argued, suddenly appearing from being Gray. He crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly and so did Gray. Jellal was getting a little annoyed.
Whatarethesetwo, herGuardianAngels? He just wanted to talk with her. Where was the fault in that?
"It's fine, Jellal," a hand was placed on his shoulder, "let's just go. It's no big deal."
Jellal shrugged Simon's hand off. He hadn't meant to be rude, but he wasn't going to give up just because two punks wanted to give him a hard time.
"Listen guys, I just want to talk with her."
Gray sniffed. "Whatever. She's back at the Guildhall."
"Thanks."
The Guildhall was codename for the tree fort in Erza's backyard. Jellal and Simon sped over to her house and were happily greeted by her mother. Ms. Eileen Belserion opened up her house to all of Erza's friends; even her supposed enemies like Jellal and Simon. She clearly knew something they didn't, or she was just that oblivious to the kids her daughter generally disliked.
Jellal and Simon scurried across the expanse of Erza's uncharacteristically large suburban backyard (her mother was able to afford better property as the wealthiest member of the community). They hid behind a quaint and polished shed that stood a few feet off from the big tree that held the Guildhall. Simon wanted to climb up, but Jellal held him back. There was squealing coming from inside.
"I'm sorry we lost, Erza."
"Juvia is sorry for the team's loss as well."
Erza sighed, leaned back in her overstuffed beanbag. "Don't sweat it guys; It was never really about winning anyway."
Lucy and Juvia became curious. "Really?" Lucy asked, "Then what was the point?"
Erza looked away from her two friends. Both Lucy and Juvia were surprised to find that it was a bashful glance that she was directing towards the far wall. Erza tried to play it off as a normal glance, standing up and heading towards the mini fridge her mother had installed against that wall two weeks ago. She grabbed a drink.
"I was bored, I guess," she plopped herself down on her scarlet red beanbag chair, "and war is fun."
Lucy sweatdropped at her friend's weird response. She was able to shrug it off though; she had known Erza since the first grade and Erza was always that odd. It'dve been a shame if she wasn't used to responses like that from her already.
Juvia, however, replaced her curiosity with a suspecting slyness. "Is Erza-san sure? Juvia has a feeling Erza-san was after something else."
"Like what?" Lucy asked. Erza was quiet.
"Erza-san could've decided to play war with Lucy-san, Gray-sama, Juvia-san and Natsu-nī. Instead, she went looking for Jellal-san and his friends. Juvia thinks Erza-san wanted to play with them instead."
"That's stupid; I just wanted to put them in their place." Erza refuted in her usual, aggressive way.
Lucy smirked and raised a had to her chin. "I dunno. . . I think Juvia is on to something." Lucy suddenly leapt from her plastic yellow chair in the corner, coming up close to Erza's face and totally violating her personal space, "Got anything you wanna tell us, Erza?"
Erza glared at Lucy, but there was no force behind it. Eventually, Lucy was able to stare her down long enough to get her to confess.
"I may have wanted to hang out with Jellal. . . he's a stupid chicken boy, but. . . he's pretty cool."
Juvia and Lucy started squealing. The sound was shrill and very unpleasant, and Erza was sure she'd go deaf if they didn't stop sometime soon. Luckily, they did, and she was able to calm them down with a mild threat.
"Juvia can't believe it!"
"Erza has a crush on a boy!"
Erza bonked the both of them on the head and they shut up quick.
"Let's get one thing straight," she said to the two of them, her aura increasing in darkness, "if a single bit of this gets out of this treehouse, I will hang you both. No one else needs to know– heck, you don't need to know. So just keep it under wraps, got it?"
Both Lucy and Juvia nodded profusely. Then there was a sudden knock on the door. Lucy answered, and immediately had to screw her mouth shut to prevent another loud squeal from escaping it. On the other side of the threshold stood none other than Jellal Fernandes (aka Erza's official crush) and Simon Mikazuchi (the younger brother of Erza's best friend).
"Hey," Jellal greeted, "can we come in?"
Without waiting for Erza's opinion, Lucy and Juvia answered. "Sure!"
Jellal and Simon entered the Guildhall, taking it in; it was the first time they'd entered it despite knowing where it was located. Everyone knew Erza Belserion, the daughter of the only rich single mom on the block.
"Hey, cool fridge!" Jellal remarked, oddly chill about being in his enemy's base. He walked up to the miniature home appliance and opened it up, grabbing a soda for both himself and his bashful brother (who had decency). Erza was kind of irked; Jellal was a little too comfortable while being in her space.
"What do you need, chicken boy?" Erza addressed him rudely. She was annoyed with his presence at the moment, feeling awkward around Lucy and Juvia after recent revelations, and not at all caring for the way her heart wanted to leap out of her chest. She needed that to live.
"Jeez, you guys'll never let me live that down, will you?" Jellal asked playfully, although fully serious. He made himself comfortable in a dark green beanbag chair that smelled an awful lot like some type of hair product. Gajeel.
"No, probably not," Lucy answered him. She took a sip of her own drink, giving a short glance to Jellal as Simon situated himself next to his best friend. "So what brings you here?"
"Ah yes," Jellal reached into the uni-pocket in the front of his red sleeveless hoodie and pulled out a bright white flower. Simon blushed when he saw it, probably guilty of being the one who chose it, and Jellal stood in front of Erza with the plant in his hand.
"I came to propose."
Erza looked at him oddly and hoped it would mask the twitch of her lips so eager to smile. She wished she had her head phones to cover the red building in the tips of her ears. "You came to propose?" she asked for clarification. Lucy and Juvia were shaking each other like madwomen and Simon looked mysteriously dejected.
Jellal stood there with a straight face and a smile, probably not getting what all of the hullabaloo was about. He nodded and held out the flower to her. "Yes. I came to propose. I believe a truce would be in all of our best interest."
There was a mass amount of energy that left the room then. Simon seemed to breath his soul out in relief, and Lucy and Juvia had gone back to looking excited but calm. Erza almost appeared to be tired. Jellal raised a brow in curious question.
Erza looked at the flower being held out to her, her heart calming itself down. She shrugged while she took the flower, successfully diverting the others' attention from the hint of pink on her ears. She gave a small smile. "Truce."
There seemed to be a silent rejoice in the treehouse that everyone could hear, but no one could see. All of the children on their block made amends and became great friends after that. However, things took a sharp turn for the innocent kids of Fairy Tail suburban community that day.
Jellal's dishonest heart had fallen for the one who held his brother's.