A/N: Because Mystwalker deserves love.
"Hmmmm...an Exceed. With a plushie bear. Eating a tomato!"
He crooked an eyebrow down to his hazel eye, an intricate red pattern adorning the skin right upon and below it, as his other one arched up in an almost perfect bow. He observed intently right in front of him for a few instants, before titling his head to his right, maintaining the exact same expression: the girl lying next to him stared at the bright azure sky upon them, a self-confident grin firm on her face as she contemplated one of the few, puffy white flocks floating placidly through it. In a position mimicking his own, her arms were crossed behind her head to better support her visual, while the rest of her body -draped in a cheerful, yellow summer dress similar to the ones he'd seen her wear many times before- was stretched out comfortably on the grassy field, the soft breeze gently petting the green blades all around them. She wrinkled her petite button nose once, then twice, before tucking the unruly wisp of fiery red hair liable of tickling it behind her ear, a tiny, glittering round earring embellishing the middle of its lobe.
He felt a delicate sense of warmth radiating from the apples of his cheeks, his eyes widening the slightest and their pupils wavering in wonder: Erza was truly a thing of beauty.
"Jellal? What's wrong with you?"
His blush grew deeper -much deeper- at the realization that point one, for the first time he had openly -and so, unforgivingly incautiously!- admitted that he liked the seven-year-old girl he'd been friends with since as long as he could remember, and point two, said girl was now staring right at him, her cheeks delicately tinged pink and a quizzical expression on her face: she had caught him staring!
"Ah? Me? Nothing's wrong with me, of course. I was just...uhhhm...thinking."
He quickly steered his gaze away from her, his face back facing the sky, squirming his body uncomfortably as he felt her eyes still on his form.
"Thinking 'bout what, Jellal?" She asked curiously.
At least five possible versions of the same truth instinctively rushed through his traitorous mind, and he shook his head resolutely: he'd give away all the magic in Edolas rather than ratting out himself! His attention focused back to the panorama right above them, and all of a sudden, realization hit his senses right back: right, the clouds. That's what they were talking about in the first place!
"Uh, about what you just said. I have to say Erza, you do have quite an imagination."
He caught a glimpse of her through the corner of his eye: his smile grew wide, and he barred his vision for a moment, savoring the scene. Before long, her eyes would have been widening for an instant, puzzled at his assertion, before realization would eventually wash right through her with the actual meaning of his words. It would have been then that her eyebrows would knit indignantly, a pout puffing her cheeks and her arms crossing defensively. Eyesight was not a necessary feature when you knew your companion like the back of your hand.
"Jellal!" She stressed his name, raising to a sitting position. "Are you saying I make things up?"
"Nope" he stole a quick glance at her, equally amused and unimpressed to witness the exact same reaction he had imagined. "You actually said it. I simply pointed out a trait of yours. Which I find nice, by the way."
She looked at him, opening her mouth to utter a retort that never left her lips and finding herself completely baffled instead. The nerve of that kid! How he always managed to catch her off guard, it was still a solid mystery to her. She huffed, before reverting her attention back to the sky.
" 'f course it looks different now. The wind changed its shape, that's why you can't make that out anymore..." she grumbled.
"Yeeees...I'm sure it's because of that" he teased. "And what would that cloud look like now?"
"Not answering you!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Aww, come on!"
"No way, Jellal" she turned away from him, arms still crossed, and stood up all of a sudden.
She was not really offended, was she? She wasn't going to leave over a silly joke like that, was she? He began to fret, quickly rising to his feet as well.
"Erza, look-"
"KYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The next thing he knew, she was hugging him. Tight. He couldn't help but observe, for the approximate amount of time of two seconds, how that girl did possess quite a remarkable physical strength, all in all. Then, his mind came to comprehend the sudden lack of personal space due to her close, close, close proximity. From such (inexistent) distance, he could distinctly tell the enticing fragrance of her hair, and bask in how it was a perfect match for the aroma of flowers and grass it had been sitting upon for the past hour. Her cheek was brushing against his, and he couldn't help the mush that was now his brain to send scorching chills down on every bit of skin her face touched.
"Wh-what is it?" He found the strength to ask, his throat dry.
"O-over there! Ahhh it's scary!" She flailed an arm backwards, the other still securely hooked around his neck, and he inched his body forward to have a look at the general direction she was pointing at, slightly tensing at the thought of a possible threat. Then, his muscles relaxed again.
"Huh? Aww...that's just a baby snail." He approached the animal, the actual size of a basket ball, which seemed either oblivious or altogether impassive of their presence. "Strange, they don't usually go 'round this time of the year. So, you want me to get rid of it?"
"Yes-no! I mean, don't kill it!"
He smiled, lifting the little snail and replacing it a few meters away. Erza looked from behind as it resumed its pace away from them.
"Uhh...thank you, Jellal" she said.
"No prob-"
Much to his surprise, she closed the distance between them once more: placing herself in front of him, she lifted herself up on her toes and bashfully pecked his cheek. It was a small contact, really, and he was probably reading way too much into it. Nevertheless, he felt his heart swelling and his spirits lifting: brushing the tips of his fingers gingerly on that spot, he watched her averting her gaze casually at the sky again in a vain attempt to conceal the bright red color her cheeks were imbued with, the tip of her feet nervously shuffling on the ground.
He smiled warmly.
"Unacceptable! This is just plainly unacceptable!" She yelled, slamming her palms on the table and raising herself up.
He sighed warily, pinching the bridge of his nose as the exhaustion that had been consuming him for the past hour started to manifest on his face. They had been sitting there since early that morning, and the pride he took on the progresses they had been making thus far quickly worn off, replaced instead by both the exasperation and the frustration over the incapability of some individuals to go past a certain matter.
Being in charge of guiding Edolas' new transitional era was not going to be an easy task, and he was accurately well aware of it: other than a destroyed land, his population was to face the settlement to a world deprived of any form of magic and, even worse, they had to adjust to a new king who had been away from his homeland for almost half of his life. Surprising as it was, though, none of said factors were the king's main concern at the present moment.
"Miss Lucy" a tawny haired man stressed her name reprovingly, his seat right next to the sovereign's. "Don't you think you're overreacting?"
"Overreacting, Gildarts? Overreacting?! I've said it before and I'll say it again: keeping their positions as captains of the Royal Army is an act of pure madness. As a representative of Fairy Tail, I shall not accept-"
"Enough is enough" the king finally spoke, his resolute tone acuminating the actual inflection of his voice, as he pinned his gaze on the blond girl several seats down to his left along the large mahogany table. "First and foremost, Lucy Ashley, I demand you to keep your composure. The Royal City Council might not be fully operational yet, nevertheless this is still an official meeting. Please sit down and behave accordingly."
She resumed her seating position in a mechanical motion, a blazing blush of anger spread across her cheeks. "My apologies, Sire." She looked down at her hands on her lap, her fists wrenching the tissue of her black shirt with animosity.
He waited a few moments, assessing her reaction, before pressing on. "Furthermore, said decision was taken by my person itself in accordance with the unanimity agreement of my closest advisers. Should I suppose you are hereby questioning the rightfulness or the sanity of our judgment?"
There was a brief pause. "...no, Sire."
He kept silent for a few more instants, just for the sake of making sure the matter was once and for all dealt with. He parted his lips again as to finally address more impellent topics, but a voice -her voice, again- interrupted him.
"But still" she blurted out, incapable and unwilling to refrain herself from talking. The king's stare bore through her once more, sternly, and although she internally scolded herself she just really couldn't drop the matter. "I-I know I'm in no position to object any of your decisions, Your Highness. I respect both your authority and your wisdom on the regency of Edolas. Still..." she trailed off, racking her brain for the appropriate words. She wished not to irate the king any further. "I strongly believe Knightwalker, Huges and Sugarboy are no suitors for a successful lead of the army, as well as I'm fully convinced there's no place for them in the reconstruction of our world. A world they kept destroying for years, a world whose inhabitants they've unmercifully and cold-bloodedly murdered. In this sense, Sire...please forgive my words, but I do think you're being far too much forgiving with them. And unfair to your own population."
A few gasps echoed through the room, before an uneasy silence slowly crept in.
"So" he quirked an eyebrow, resting his chin on the back of his entangled fingers. "Are you suggesting for them to be exiled? Or perhaps you would rather have them executed, I have to presume? Is it vengeance the ground you're proposing to rebuild our homeland on, Lucy Ashley?"
"No" she answered more quickly than she would've wanted. "But as things stand now, it is my opinion they should be exiled for life."
"...she's not that wrong, you know."
A feminine voice came from the other side of the room: her hands were loosely clasped together on the table, her back perfectly aligned with the rectilinear back of her chair a few ones from the king's, her long dark scarf draped around her neck and dangling down at the sides of her habitual armor.
Of course, of all people, she had to intervene, in the worst possible way, that was.
The blond Fairy Tail ex-mage shot a deadly look at her, which she ignored as she kept on.
"My fellow captains and I have our share of responsibilities on the current state Edolas finds itself in, and we have unquestionably behaved against what is the present course of action of its new ruler. Therefore, any form of punishment that goes beyond participating in its reconstruction appears to me not only well deserved, but with all due respect, Your Majesty" she looked at him thoroughly in the eyes, before closing her own and slightly bowing her head "mandatory." She raised her stare once again, this time, pinning it straightforwardly on the guild's representative. "As for the killings, I am the direct responsible for the majority of them, as I have murdered most of your comrades." Her eyes roamed through the chamber before locking once again purposely with the monarch's, solemnity never faltering from her person as she went on. "Under King Faust's regency, crimes of such entity were punished with a death penalty. I require no preferential treatment."
"So you're saying you should go and get executed while we sit here on our butts waiting to get a random punishment of sort, hmm hmm? Erza, just what is wrong with you?!" Sugarboy exclaimed, slamming his fist against the wooden surface of the table.
"Indeed! If the King is going to reconsider his decision, we're all equals in this. I'm not taking the easy way out, I thought that had been well established before." Hughes agreed.
A loud screeching on the ground had everyone's attention revert back to the king, whose exasperation now fully seeped through his face as he unceremoniously stood up, his jaw contracted and his muscles tense. He inhaled deeply, and visibly, to calm himself down before he spoke, his tone formal but asperity and aggravation exacerbating it: "Nobody is going to reconsider their decisions for I am, I remind you all, the King of Edolas. And as such, each and every word leaving my lips is final. You may have been granted the permission to intervene and express your opinions as members of this cabinet, but this kind of attitude" he looked emphatically at the ex-mage and at each captain, respectively "is not going to be tolerated any further. You are, not now, not ever in the future, entitled to argue, question or undermine my authority in any sort of manner. And to ensure this time the message has effectively been conveyed, you, Lucy Ashley, are banished from the Royal Palace for two weeks starting today. As for you, Captain Knightwalker, Captain Sugarboy and Captain Huges, your salaries are going to be halved until the end of the month. That been established," he sunk back on his cushioned chair, briefly closing his eyes as he quickly reorganized his thoughts "I shall address this matter one final time, since there still seem to be unresolved questions revolving around it. Any objection?"
The question was, of course, rhetorical, and as an obsequious silence filled the room in response, he kept on.
"There are plenty, sensible motives that led me to this resolution. Since many of you in this room seem so keen to fathom what they are, those who are directly involved in particular, as it emerges, I shall quench your interest once and for all. In the first instance, and please correct me if I'm wrong" he said, a hint of irony tinging his statement "each division of the army is still unyieldingly loyal to the captains who have successfully, from a retrospective point of view, led them for years. Panther Lily and Knightwalker, namely, are to this day still exceptionally esteemed. Now I'm going to ask you, Captain Knightwalker" he addressed her directly, turning his face to look at her "should you be sentenced to death, as you apparently seem so eager to be, or even just to be exiled or merely deposed from your office, what do you consider to be the chances of your whole division, which is now inclusive of most of Panther Lily's men as well, if not the entire army altogether, to revolt in an attempt to overthrow this reign?"
"If I had the chance to talk to them-"
"Attain to the question, please" he cut short.
She exhaled audibly through her nostrils, closing her eyes in defeat. "...high, I esteem. Considerably high."
"As is my opinion, yes. Now, Captain Knightwalker, allow me one additional question" he kept on, his solemn tone never wavering and his deep forest-green eyes never leaving hers. She suppressed the visceral instinct to roll her eyes in annoyance and the even more deleterious one to withdraw her new spear and aim it directly at his throat: she never liked to be the centre of attention, and his attitude had an edge that was simply getting on her nerves.
She ultimately thought better of it and choose to keep silent instead, and as she nodded her consent, he spoke: "How long have you and your fellow captains been living in this castle?"
"We were all recruits since young age. Huges was the latest to join us, five years ago. Sugar Boy has been here for the past eight. As for me..." she trailed off, an indecipherable, undetectable emotion seeping through her pensive eyes.
"Please, go on" he encouraged, his attention fully focused on her.
"I have been a recruit of the army since the age of seven" she spoke blankly, her irises unexpressive as she straightened her back further.
He lingered his gaze on her for a few more seconds, his expression unreadable, before resuming the dialogue.
"So that makes respectively five, eight and twelve years. Overall, twenty-five years of knowledge of this castle, its structures, its workers, its bureaucracy and so forth. Is that correct?"
"It is."
"I hope, at this point, it won't be necessary to further underline how irreplaceable their presence is to both the Royal City and the kingdom. But just to be even more clear, for as I said before, I shall not return on this specific subject ever again in the future, let me clarify two more topics. First, at this point it seems rather obvious how the upbringing and traineeship of three new captains of their worth and experience would take no less than years to achieve, and besides, no one but them themselves would be able to instruct them with the required effectiveness. Secondly" this time, he dwelled on what he wished to disguise as an emphasis pause far more than necessary, in truth actually debating with himself whether he should bring that subject up in the first place. He was, in no uncertain terms, hesitating: it was a treacherous path he was about to trade, the potential of its backfire enormous. Why bother, after all?
Two short, embarrassed coughs caught his attention, plunging him back to reality. He cleared his throat nervously but with feigned nonchalance, finally resolving himself that dropping the matter was, indeed, for the best.
"Secondly, I remind you of the existence of a world called Earthland" he blurted out, his mouth moving by its own will and his instincts having the better of their owner. At this point, he really had no other choice but to cave in. "A land I had the opportunity to get to know quite accurately, for it's been my home for the past seven years. As you may already know, it's a parallel dimension to ours whose inhabitants are our counterparts, our lookalikes, if you will. And despite their personalities do differ from ours to some extents, I know for a fact they are substantially the same. Now, the Erza of their world, Scarlet," the redheaded captain flinched at the mention of her counterpart's name, her eyes widening in surprise. Where could he possibly be getting at? "along with Edolas' and Earthland's Fairy Tail, which she's been an honorable member of since a young age, actively participated in saving our homeland. Something that comes as no surprise, really, considering she is one of the bravest, most selfless and loyal people I've ever met in my life. Now, as far as I've been reported and verified myself, ever since joining the Royal Army there has yet to be a day where either of our current captains have transgressed a single order they were given, which means as soldiers, they did nothing but to serve their country the way they were asked to. And I'm absolutely confident their sense of devotion won't be changing under this new regency."
She had tried. In her defense, she really had tried, this time, her uttermost best to keep herself quiet. But again, a scoff escaped her nostrils and a royal glare was bestowed on her in response.
"Excuse me, Miss Ashley of Fairy Tail, did I hear something?"
"It...it's nothing really."
"I see" he replied, his tone unconvinced. "Nothing to remark, then?"
"It's just that..." she bit on her lip, hard. That big mouth of hers was going to cost her, one day or another. "I have met my own counterpart, Lucy Heartfilia, as well as other Earthland's Fairy Tail members. And in all honesty, it seems to me the only thing we share is our semblances: other than that, we have absolutely nothing in common. To be completely sincere, as a matter of fact we seem quite complete opposites instead. You previously talked about the possible threat of the army overthrowing the throne, but at this point, I can't really help but wonder if there is such a chance Knightwalker herself would lead the revolt."
"And why on Edolas would I ever do that?!" Erza spat angrily, her pride vilely wounded. It was one thing to remark her past actions, it was another to question her line of conduct. She was never -she could have never been- loyal to Faust: she was loyal to the crown, whoever wore it.
He suppressed a sigh as he resignedly witnessed the outcome he had expected to unfold: he knew that was coming, bringing Earthland up, as well as he was well aware he couldn't avoid what he was about to say next.
"As far as I know," he began cautiously "my own doppelganger, Jellal Fernandez, is currently an outlaw. To carry out an abject plan of his, which would have led to the demise of his entire world hadn't he been stopped in good time, he went as far as misleading Earthland's magical council, bringing it to the verge of dismantlement. Because of this, he's been condemned to either a life sentence or to be put to death: whichever deliberation he willingly accepted, as not only he was allegedly arrested without resistance, but indeed so after he collaborated to vanquish an extremely dangerous dark guild, factually saving the same world he was once about to destroy. He was ready to die for his sins." He stressed at the end.
"He had a change of heart" Erza whispered to herself, her voice not higher than a whisper.
"He had, indeed." He nodded. "Now, on this basis, should we deduce I myself, your own King who saved you from the evil Lord Dragneel, could be capable of perpetrating such misdeeds? Or should we, more sensibly, come to the conclusion that he had been, instead, the one to be misled? Now, Lucy Ashley, you said you had the chance to meet Lucy Heartfilia. I have, myself. And I can assure you, if you brought yourself to take a closer look, one going beyond your personal resentment, you would find much more in common with her than you think. As I already told you all, although with some differences, we're just the same as them deep down. And even though your feelings toward the captains are understandable and legitimate from your point of view, at this point I have to ask you if there is any reason going past your personal issues with them to think it's unsafe for this nation to keep them in their positions."
"..."
"..."
"...there aren't, Your Highness." She bowed her head, disheartened. There really were none. She felt a stinging sensation on the brim of her eyes, which she vehemently fought back: the King's reasoning had been irrefutable, there was not a single argument she could summon or hold on to anymore. He was, simply, right. Her mind knew this, but her heart refused to acknowledge it: it was her comrades they were talking about. Her friends. Her family. They had been chased down, forced on the run, assassinated. Mercilessly. Barbarically. Heartlessly. And now she was expected to sit there quietly amongst said murderers, along with her, pretending nothing had ever happened as she watched them merrily keeping on living their lives in spite of the ones they had taken.
No, she couldn't accept it. She just couldn't.
"Now I'm going to ask all those present, once and for all: is there any valid reason not to deem Captain Knightwalker, Captain Sugarboy and Captain Hughes worthy of serving this country?"
As their silence spoke for them, the king went on: "Hence, do you hereby all agree on keeping them in their positions as captains of the first, second and third military division respectively?"
"Yes, Sire" they spoke in unison.
At this point, he couldn't help the small sigh of sheer relief that finally escaped his chest.
"I declare this session adjourned until 3:00 in the afternoon. You're all dismissed."
He winched, tiredly rubbing his eyes as everyone slowly made their way out of the room. Prolonging the meeting was not exactly something he was looking forward to, but there were still the issues he didn't have the opportunity to address to be dealt with. At times like that, part of him almost wished Panther Lily had accepted his offer to rule the kingdom, back then, had it not been for the not-so-irrelevant detail he had offered his life in exchange.
He sighed once more. How long could that day still be?
Finally, he released his eyelids from his fingertips' massage, and as he did so, something caught his attention, or rather, someone did: her neck was leaning faintly onward, her hands clasped together on the table as she emptily looked at an indeterminate point of it.
"Captain?"
"..."
"Captain?" He called out again.
"..." And again, no answer came.
"Captain Knightwalker" he repeated once more, this time significantly raising his voice.
"Huh?" She jerked on her seat, abruptly snapping out of her musings. "Yes, Your Majesty?" She asked, before noticing everyone else but her had emptied the chamber. "Oh. My apologies. I'll see myself out" she stated, but as she shifted to raise herself up, his voice interrupted her motion.
"You seemed quite deep in thought, Captain. Was my speech any of your interest? I'm curious."
"...in a way, I suppose that could be surmised, yes" she replied, her statement deferential and her tone inflectionless, thus effectively eluding the inquiry. This didn't go unnoticed by the monarch.
"May I ask you how so, then?"
"I believe His Majesty has more impelling issues to tend to rather than to be listening to a mere subordinate's insight. Now if I'm dismissed, my division-"
"Oh, but I asked for it. Specifically so, in actual fact" he persisted with obstinacy, implicitly denying her the permission to leave. "And please, feel free to talk."
"If that's the case, Your Majesty..." she started in a quiet tone. "In all honesty, I was musing on how reckless and outright irrational it's been on your part to talk about your Earthland doppelganger, and before your official crowning, no less. Aside the futility of it, the utter idiocy of bringing such a topic up with that poor of a choice for timing leaves me utterly flabbergasted: you may have obtained the citizens' consent to the crown, but earning and maintaining their trust is an entirely different matter. If what you said today was to leave this room, your position could be irreparably compromised. As for now, Edolas needs stability and a King they can trust, therefore, I earnestly suggest you to make an effort to avoid such pathetic blunders in the future."
The dull ticking of the clock on the wall filled the void his lack of an answer left, as he mutely took her words in. Eventually, she spoke again.
"May I be excused now, Your Majesty?"
A brief motion of his head was all that she needed to finally raise to her feet and take her leave, her person not more eager than his to draw out the conversation.
He kept there, still, observing her as she wordlessly left the room.
A/N: So, I've been thinking of writing a Jerza multichapter story for a while now *looks guiltily at a few single-chapter~ish ficts waiting to be edited and posted*...instead, this happened.
I should've named this chapter The King's Speech, really. Sorry it turned out so...wordy. Also, formal speech's a b!tch.
Let me know what you guys think of this! Also, please do make me notice any grammatical mistake (I know there are no matter how thoroughly I check) or anything you think can be improved.
Constructive criticism is always very much appreciated (compliments are not disdained either, that is).
Until next time!
~Meraki