Jellal's P.O.V
Apparently, late last night, Erza was attacked. Master Makarov called a guild meeting this morning after everyone arrived to break the news to us and we are all still in shock. Makarov said he didn't know much except that someone had dumped her at Porlyusica's door step and left. He also said that he didn't know much of what happened to Erza; just that she was in critical condition, now stabilised, and had lost a lot of blood but no one was allowed to come visit her until Porlyusica was sure Erza was well enough to take visitors.
Naturally, Natsu went crazy. He swore that he would find who had done it and make them pay which was greeted by loud cheers of agreement from the rest of the guild. I, myself, had to be restrained by several members from running to go see her the second I heard the news. Lucy and Wendy as well as a bunch of the other girls, Meredy included, have been crying ever since they found out. Gray had to comfort Juvia before she flooded the guild. Levy had even claimed that she thought something had been wrong when she knocked on Erza's door last night but decided that she must have been asleep. Gajeel and Lily were quick to say it wasn't her fault and that she didn't know.
I was so consumed by my thoughts that I didn't notice the messenger pigeon fly into the guild and land on Master Makarov's head. I watched intently and he untied the piece of paper from its foot and read over the message, small tears forming in his eyes. "Master, what's wrong?" Mira asks putting a comforting hand on his tiny shoulder. "Is Erza alright?" The guild is suddenly silent as we wait for the answer.
"It appears that Erza will be forced to stay in bed for a few months and that she will have emotional and physical trauma to deal with. I am afraid that some of these details are too private and horrifying that I can't say it out loud but the good news is Erza is finally awake and willing to see a few people." My head shoots us at this.
"Master, please, I need to see her." I practically beg. He looks at me straight in the eye and nods but holds up his hand to stop me from sprinting out the door this second.
"You may go, Jellal, and I will also send Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, Wendy, Carla, and Juvia with you to see her but listen closely," He waits until everyone is staring at him in suspense. "That girl is probably very stressed and traumatised right now so no one is allowed to pressure her into answering questions and you must do everything you can to make sure she feels safe. We don't need any added weight to her shoulders and we most defiantly don't want to force her into anything she isn't comfortable with. Understood?" He asks us finally and we all nod and give a slight bow.
"Yes, Master Makarov, we understand." Everyone recites in perfect harmony.
"Good, you may go."
"Thank you, Master." I say as the ones that were selected run out of the guild. I am using all my will power not to burst into Meteor and run straight to Erza but instead running with everyone else. By the time we finally get there the panic has set in and I know I need to see her now before I lose the remainder of my sanity. Porlyusica opens the door for us when we arrive and leads us down a hall before making us stop to wait. "Stay here while I tell Erza you are ready to see her now." She commands.
We wait for about a minutes before she pops her head out the door and nods, stepping out of the way to let us inside. "Try not to comment on her appearance." She mutters as each of us pass her. "That poor girl has gone through enough."
And when I step in the room I see exactly what she means. Erza is lying on a white bed with several magical machines hooked up to her to monitor her health. The covers go right up to her neck so I can't see much of the damage that her body took but I can see that her lip is busted open and she has dark circles under her eyes. Her skin looks ghastly pale and the pain is clear in her eyes even though she tries to smile at us when we come in.
"Hey, you all came." She croaks out.
"Of course we came!" Lucy says. "We needed to make sure you were alright."
Erza's smile drops for a second and fear flashes thought her features before she grins again and manages to weakly nod. "I'm fine, no need to worry about me." She tells us but no one believes her.
"You don't have to do that with us, Erza," I say shaking my head and going over to sit on the chair on her right side, her eyes following my movements. "You don't need to act strong right now, we all know you are, but you don't need to pretend you are perfectly fine because you're not." I tell her softly and I see tears prick in her eyes. She weakly reaches for my hand and I give it to her offering her a reassuring squeeze.
"Yeah, we are all here for you." Gray says softly.
"And we won't force you into telling us what happened." Natsu adds.
Erza seems to think for a moment before letting go of my hand and resting her hand on her left shoulder which is still hidden by the blanket. "I don't think I would be able to hide this from you guys anyways. At least, not this one." She whispers. "Porlyusica, can you help me sit up?" She asks in a small voice like she is afraid of something.
"Of course, dear, but take it slow." She says coming over to Erza's left side and propping up some more pillows so she is in a sitting position. As she sits up the covers drop down to reveal bruises covering her neck and collar bone as well as her entire chest wrapped in bandages. What makes everybody stop and stare, some even doing a double take, is the bandages that are wrapped around her left shoulder which appears to be wrapped in a little ball around the part where her arm used to be. All that is left it a little stub.
"Erza." I gasp as I take in her appearance. Tears are now streaming down her face as she stares at the stub hidden by all the bandages and feels the spot where her arm would be.
"Who did this to you?" Natsu hisses out his clenched fists lighting up with fire. "I swear I'll kill them."
We wait for her answer but she just shakes her head. I watch as Lucy places a hand on his shoulder to calm him down but all he does is glance in her direction before glaring at Erza's missing limb. Erza shakes her head and hides her face in her palm turning to look me in the eyes and stretching out towards me. I lean forward and pull her to my chest allowing her to cry into my shirt as I rub soothing circles on her back. "Hey, we will get through this; everything is going to be just fine." I whisper and she shakes her head again in disbelieve.
Natsu is still fuming and Lucy decides to take matters into her own hands. "Come on, Natsu, let's go take a walk. Don't force her into telling us something she doesn't want to say." She tells him calmly and he looks at her over his shoulder before giving a curt nod and deactivating his flames. He walks over to us and places a friendly kiss on the top of Erza's head before taking Lucy's out stretched hand and walking out, Happy trailing behind.
Gray, ironically, is frozen on the spot staring at Erza with a shocked expression and tears welling up in his eyes. Juvia tries to shake him out of it and when that doesn't work she splashes a bit of water in his face which finally does the trick. "Why doesn't Juvia and Gray-sama go get some air? We can come visit again tomorrow." Juvia suggests and tugs on his arm. Gray weakly nods and allows Juvia to take him out.
"Juvia will see you tomorrow Erza." She attempts a smiles and waves as Erza continues to cry into my shirt although having calmed down quite a bit.
"We will let you two have some privacy." Porlyusica say while motioning for Wendy and Carla to follow her out. Once they are gone Erza leans back and away from my chest. I cup her face in my hands and brush away the last of her tears with my thumbs.
"What am I supposed to do now?" She asks with a sniffle. "I can't fight like this."
I shake my head at her. "Don't think about that right now, you need to focus on getting better." I tell her and she leans back against the pillows. I brush the scarlet strands out of her face and lean forwards on my chair.
"I'm tired." She sighs and I nod.
"Okay, let me help you lay down." I tell her and she allows me do let her lay flat on her back as I pull the covers back up around her. "Are you warm enough?" I ask her and she nods. I run my fingers through her hair and she smiles slightly, I remember doing it at the tower, and sighs in appreciation. I stand for a second to press my lips to her forehead before sitting back down and resume playing with her scarlet locks again.
"What am I supposed to tell the guild?" She cracks her eye open at me and takes a shaky breath. "How am I going to explain this to them? I-I'm supposed to be Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, and the strongest female mage of Fairy Tail but now… now I don't know if I can even fight any more." She stares into my eyes. "What if I have to quit being a mage? Or leave Fairy Tail?" Her voice breaks.
"No one is going to make you leave Fairy Tail." I tell her honestly. "And just because you are missing an arm does not mean you can't fight, you just have to train hard, once you are better, and you will continue to be the best. No one is judging you, we're a family." I take her hand again and trace her palm with my finger. "We want you to get better."
Erza stares at me for a moment and intertwines our fingers together. "Thank you, Jellal." She manages a weak but sincere smile. "You always know what to say." I grin at her and bring her hand to my lips, kissing it softly.
"You're welcome." I tell her and she giggles.
"You can be such a dork." She tells me with a small laugh. "I love that side of you." She adds in a whisper.
"That's because I'm your dork." I tell her and she smiles a sleepy, sleepy smile.
"I think the pain medication is kicking in." She says with a yawn. "You will come back tomorrow, right?" Her eyes are beginning to flutter as her hand goes limp in mine.
"Yes. I'll be here." I say and cup her face in my hands as her eyes fall shut. I give her one last peck on the cheek and stand up as quietly as I can. "Stay strong, my beautiful Scarlet." I whisper as I softly shut the door behind me.
I creep down the hall and into the main room where Porlyusica is sitting alone making some tea. She lifts her head up as I enter the room. "Everyone went home." She says and I nod.
"I guess I will be heading out too. She is asleep right now, by the way." I tell her and she grunts. "Can you send word tomorrow if I can come back?" I ask her and she looks up meeting my gaze before nodding once and turning back to her tea so I take it as a sign to leave.
I make my way back to the guild and slouch down at the bar where Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Juvia are all sitting and discussing what had happened. "Oh, Jellal, you're back! How was she when we left?" Lucy asks urgently.
"She was scared about having to leave the guild and people seeing her differently. I managed to talk to her and she seemed happier in the end. I left when she fell asleep and Porlyusica said she would send word tomorrow." I explain and they nod.
"I still can't believe this happened. Someone managed to overpower Erza and take her left arm. I never thought anything like this would ever happen." Gray says a bit dazed. "Strange how someone's world could be flipped upside-down in a matter of seconds."
"Well, all we can do for her now is support her and find out who did this and make them pay." Natsu slams his fist into his palm and cracks his knuckle. "They are going to regret what they have done."
"First we need Erza to explain what happened though but we have to let her say it, not force her." Juvia explains reasonably.
"Juvia is right, this must be extremely hard for her to deal with right now, I mean, her magic is requip and for that you use swords and armor but now she will have to fight with only one arm." Lucy agrees and a deafening silence fills the room as reality sinks in.
"She can do it, I know she can." Gray says standing up. "And if we don't show her we believe in her how is she going to believe in herself? I mean, she is freaking Titania, Queen of the Fairies, our friend, think of everything she has done for us? I know that if it wasn't for her I would have been dead already, we probably all would, so let's show her how strong she is because at times like this, she is going to need a few reminders." After that speech he does something that none of us have done since we heard the news, since we saw our friend in such a depressed state, since we thought she would never be the same Erza we know and love, he… smiles.
"Your right, Gray!" Lucy shoots up from her chair as well. "We are Fairy Tail mages and we won't let anything get us down and Erza is not exception! I am going to do everything I can to make sure that Erza is up on her feet and kicking butt like she always does in not time!"
"Juvia is going to help too!" Juvia says standing up beside Gray and Lucy who is soon followed by everyone else, myself included.
"We will talk to Porlyusica tomorrow and find out Erza's schedule. Once she is allowed to get up and walk again and start helping her walk around and maybe try and make everything a bit more fun for her to take her mind off it. Meanwhile we can make sure everyone keeps visiting her so she doesn't get lonely." Natsu says with a cheery smile.
"Porlyusica said that she would tell me when I could come over tomorrow, I can ask if you guys can come too." I say and they grin at me.
"You know, Jellal, if you want some alone time with Erza all you have to do is say so. We know that this must be hard for you too." Lucy smirks at me and I want to slap the faint blush off my cheeks.
"W-why would you say that?" I stutter.
"Jellal. None of us are stupide, we all know that you love her and she loves you. I mean, come on. If that was me and there was a guy I liked I would feel insecure about my appearance and be worried mostly about what that guy thought of me." She says with a slight roll of her eyes and Juvia nods in agreement.
"Juvia would be nervous too." Juvia tells me yet her eyes flicker to Gray for a second.
"Why would she be insecure about something like that? It just makes her even more unique. Erza is very beautiful but that doesn't really matter to me, I love her heart and her personality." I say. They all shoot me knowing looks and my eyes widen in realisation of my confession. "I-I mean, uh," I hang my head. "Please don't tell her I said that." I sigh finally.
"Awe, come on, that was so sweet though!" Lucy complains. "If those words don't come out of your mouth soon then they will be coming out of mine. Or maybe once all this is over I could set her up with one of my old childhood friends, last I heard he was a very successful male model that travels around building orphanages for kids…" She trail off with a sigh as she rests her head on her hands and sit back down, the rest of us following suit.
"You wouldn't." I glare at her and she glares back.
"Oh, believe me, I will. He's got blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, what do you think their kids would look like? Of course if they were to have kids then first they would have to—"
"Please stop talking." I beg. "I do not want to think about that."
"Wait, what would they have to do first?" Wendy speaks up and tilts her head to the side in question. Lucy's mouth drops open as we all gape at the blue haired girl.
I hear Juvia clear her throat and turn back to the group. "So… Juvia will see you all tomorrow back at the guild?" She asks before getting up and scurrying away.
"Yep, sure will!" Natsu chuckles awkwardly. "Let's go Lucy, Happy, see you tomorrow guys!" Natsu grabs Lucy's wrists and runs out of the guild.
They rest of us give lame excuses and run back home before someone accidentally taints Wendy's innocent mind.
"Wait!" She calls after them. "I want to know!" She sighs realising that they probably won't be coming back. "Oh well, maybe Laxus will be able to explain it to me…"
Hey guys, this is AnythingFanfiction13! I hope you have enjoyed this story so far! I plan on this being a short story focusing mainly on how Erza learns to handle anything that life throws at her, even the unexpected. And I will most defiantly be throwing in some Jerza because who doesn't just simply adore them? (And because they are the main focus of the story I don't think you would have kept reading it if you hate them.) I will try my best to update when I can but there will be no set schedule.
I know a lot of writers say this but if you could leave a comment it would really help! Your comments are the things that inspire me to write and make this enjoyable for everybody! Thanks for clicking on this story and taking using your precious time to read it! I love you guys so much and if you want to see more Jerza then check out my other story; The Days After which will hopefully be turned into a series.
Thanks again, bye! -AnythingFanfiction13