I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima.
A/N: Hey all, here's my submission for the bonus day of Jerza Week's 'Tomorrow' prompt! Just to let you know that Fate? might be a bit slow on the updating with this marvellous week happening! I'm aiming to do as much as possible for it! Please enjoy :)
Tomorrow - Military AU
I have to tell her before tomorrow.
Fiore had been at war with Bosco for three years now. Jellal remembered the first time he'd stepped foot in this base. It had been a year and a half ago, and back then he was still a Lieutenant Colonel. He'd walked in, checked out his HQ, and sat down to smoke some tobacco in his pipe. This is going to be a long, gruelling battlefront. He thought. Though the fighting here was more sporadic than other combat zones, this place had a tendency to get bombed, as it was attached to ocean territory under Fiore's control that enabled trade with other countries, and that Bosco had been seeking to capture. This meant that all occupants would have to be ready to disperse and take cover with less than a moment's notice.
After he had been smoking his pipe for a few minutes, contemplating the longevity of this war, he heard a knock at his door. "Enter" He commanded. To his surprise, it was a woman who entered. She had scarlet red hair, and wore a prototypical army uniform, bearing the same silver leaf insignia as him above her left breast pocket. So she's also a Lieutenant Colonel? That's surprising, you don't normally see women in such high ranks, nevermind beautiful ones like her. He thought. He tried his hardest not size her up obviously. He had never found army uniforms to be an especially flattering outfit on anyone, but somehow she managed to make it look sexy. I'd bet anything would look good on her though. He found it unprofessional to notice these kind of things about her, but he he couldn't remember the last time, if ever, he'd laid eyes on a woman this attractive.
"Good Day, Lieutenant Colonel Fernandes, I am Lieutenant Colonel Scarlet" She introduced herself, bowing then presenting a hand for him to shake. Suitable name. He thought to himself as he took her hand.
"Good day." He replied. "I hoped we could discuss the scheduling today and go over the strategies outlined by the tacticians. We are in charge of all four companies for now, as the Colonel and Major General who would normally be with us went to attend an important meeting this morning." She informed him. "Very well, let's get started then." He obliged.
If he had known back then what he did now, Jellal would have tried to emotionally prepare himself a little. He wasn't sure exactly what moment made him fall in love with Lieutenant Colonel Erza Scarlet - it could have been that very moment when he first laid eyes on her - but the journey coming to that conclusion had been full of denial, jealousy, and heartache. Not that any of it was her fault in the slightest - most of it had to do with his professional ego, military marriage laws, and that drunken asshole Bacchus...as well as that strange man Ichiya and his Trimen...and all those other males surrounding the both of them that found Erza attractive and made no attempt to hide it. To be fair, the number of them was far less than it would be if Erza weren't so terrifying. She instilled fear and respect in all who knew her, and the ones with the audacity to hit on her were rightfully viewed as insane with a death wish.
Eight months after that first day, Jellal received a promotion to Colonel. He had personally felt that Erza was more deserving of the title; she was more hard working and creative with her approaches and dealings with battles and soldiers. But he knew the real reason why he was chosen instead. She was considered to be too outspoken against Fiore's use of weapons of mass destruction. Becoming Colonel had introduced Jellal to the fact that most of the men higher up in command wished to wipe out Bosco as quickly as possible. It's funny really, they thought that I would be more okay with wipeout tactics than her, but I've changed so much because of her that it backfired on them. He had indeed changed a lot of because of the Lieutenant Colonel, her personality and morals were contagious. Being near her had forced him to open his eyes to how much systemic sexism was apparent in the military community - he had never been close enough to another woman in the army to truly understand. He was sure those old men had biases about promoting a woman to Colonel, and that that had played a large part in his promotion. He had felt guilty when being told that he was rising in rank, but it had been Erza who insisted on him taking this opportunity. He smiled to himself. And now I'm in this predicament because I've been so disillusioned. It's funny how that happened.
The situation now was that the geezers higher up wanted him to lead an infantry unit up the coast of Bosco in attempt to gain more territory. Anyone who knew anything about the likelihood of success for this kind of assignment knew it was a suicide mission. Sure, they had told him that if he were successful, he would most likely be promoted to Brigadier General, but Jellal knew that they weren't banking on that. He was aware that he had been very outspoken in meetings against weapons of mass destruction and unethical slaughter tactics, which had earned him an undesirable reputation among his superiors. I'd rather speak the truth than enable those kind of atrocities. As such he was well aware that the Generals wished to get rid of him. He knew he would most likely die on this mission, and he left for it tomorrow. I will not die a coward. Though the prospect of being killed in action weighed heavily on his mind, he had somewhat come to terms with it. More than anything, he wished to accomplish that most nerve wracking confession that had plagued his mind for the past week. I have to tell her before tomorrow.
He had to confess his love to Erza. He couldn't stand the idea that he might be laying in the dirt at death's door in less than 24 hours having not told her about how he felt. She'd had such a great influence over him for the past year and a half, he could never express how grateful he was to her, but he could tell her how he felt about her. I must do this for myself.
He forced himself to stand, stretching his unwilling legs and walking towards the Lieutenant Colonel's quarters. Just tell it straightforward. It's fine if she rejects you - you weren't expecting anything more. Just make sure she knows.
He reached her door and knocked thrice. "Come in" He heard her call. He entered, bowing and formally addressing her before taking a seat at her desk. "I'm glad that you came here today, I hear that your infantry is to arrive tomorrow, along with Colonel Neekis - I supposed he'll be taking over temporarily while you're gone." She said, looking away from him, an upset expression on her face. "Is there something wrong ma'am?" He asked her. "You know that those higher ups don't really want you to succeed on this mission, right?" "I am aware" He told her. "And you're going through with it?" "It's a direct order from my superiors, I can hardly turn it down." He said. "I see." She replied, going quiet. "Besides, they said they would make me Brigadier General should I be successful" She smiled softly "Then I guess I should get used to calling you General".
He tried to collect himself. I'm going to do this. "Lieuten- Erza" He let out a long breath. "The nature of my visit here isn't strictly professional I'm afraid. Please forgive me for my selfishness." She regarded him, frowning slightly. "What do you mean Jellal?" She asked, standing and walking int front of him as he rose as well.
"I...I am afraid that over the course of time that I've known you, you've had a great influence over me...and...and…" He scrunched up his eyes, feeling like he couldn't open them - he couldn't look at her. "And while I don't fear dying on this mission, I do fear being a coward and not telling you the truth." He forced his eyes open. She was standing right in front of him. He made himself make eye contact with her beautiful, worried face. "I'm sorry Erza, but I am desperately in love with you. I know it isn't fair that I tell you this before probably dying, but I just need to do this to go in peace-" He was cut off by her hand slapping his face. He looked back at her, putting a hand to the sore spot where she'd just hit him. It's okay, you were expecting just as much. She does this to all guys that try to make a move on her. "You should be sorry" She told him with anger in her voice and tears in her eyes. "How dare you tell me this now, when you've already given up. You sound so willing to die, like telling me this makes it okay…" Her tears began to fall and Jellal felt a mixture of sorrow and hope. She came closer to him. "You can't just do that" She told him, grabbing him by the collar and smashing her lips against his. Jellal froze, surprised by her action, before closing his eyes and kissing her back hard. He grabbed her hips and held her closer while she wrapped her arms around his neck, their kiss escalating to a proper make out.
When the two broke apart for air, Erza looked him in the eye with a determined expression. "If you really love me, promise me - promise me that you'll come back." He smiled softly. "For you? Anything." "Good" She replied. "If you don't mind me asking, why wait until now to tell me your feelings?" She asked him. "Well, there are laws under military jurisdiction that forbid any non-professional relationships between commissioned officers...we're still going to have to deal with that if I come back from the mission" He told her. Erza raised an eyebrow. "If? I thought we had already established that you're going to live, for me. As for after you get back" She walked her fingers up his chest, drawing closer to him once again. "We'll just have to get good at keeping a secret, won't we?" He gulped and nodded, not entirely capable of speech with her in such close proximity. She leaned into him once more and gently nibbled at his lower lip. He tried and failed to stifle a groan. The two resumed their heated embrace once more, battling with their tongues.
The rest of their night was spent in the same fashion. They eluded their regular duties, sending messages for their subordinates to take care of them. They allowed themselves a night to express their unexplored passion, hoping that tomorrow would never come.