*Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

A/N: Hey there! This is a new ErLu fic. Spur of the moment kind of thing. The setting is around chapter 365, but the upcoming chapters will cover most of the major arcs.

Hope you enjoy.


She was betrayed, captured, humiliated, tortured. Everything she had been 20 years ago in the Tower of Paradise. She had promised herself that she would never allow anyone to put her through anything like that again. And there she was. Wrists and ankles clasped with anti magic seal stone chains, and completely naked, feet barely touching the cold hard floor. She hadn't had the time to look around the dungeon, but given she was alone, the red haired mage lifted her head a bit and surveyed her surroundings. The walls and the floor were made of cobblestone. Chains and shackles were hammered into the walls faces of the cell, while some lay on the floor. There hung the scent of blood, death...and suffering. Either the cell itself was engulfed in a chill, or her naked form couldn't keep the warmth inside her. The only light present was that of the nine ever slowly burning candles that stood like soldiers on the floor. As they flickered with the occasional cold air, the mage's eyes began to ache and tire. How she wished to be in her room at Fairy Hills or at their library. How she wished to talk of novels to a certain blonde mage, or take on quests with her. They had never done it alone, had they? Would she even have a chance anymore? The quests aside, would she be given a chance to be honest with the younger girl? Let her know how she really felt? She didn't know. How could she?

She was still in pain from the last torture session. The blood flowing out from her arms, stomach and thighs had dried, becoming very uncomfortable. But she had other things to worry about. Mira was in danger, she was in danger, but she couldn't do anything. She was powerless! How could she make such a stupid mistake?! Why wasn't she suspicious?! Why did she have to trust that stupid man?! She was the reason they were in their current situation! She was the one at fault! Mira shouldn't have had to suffer because of her! She was too overconfident. Just because at some point in time, both of them had been S-Class mages didn't mean they were unstoppable. Erza knew this better than anyone, and yet! And yet! She still let Mira get captured. She couldn't take it anymore. The list kept getting bigger and bigger. Her failures never stopped piling up. She may have remedied them in the end, but that didn't change what they were originally. Failures. Her failures that caused harm to her friends, her family, her loved ones, Lucy.

The chronologically 26 year old mage hung her head in pure shame and disgust at herself. This wasn't a mere mistake. This was the failure beyond failures. That Tartarus woman wouldn't stop until Erza coughed up Jellal's location. But she didn't know! Erza really didn't know! Even if she did, she wasn't sure she'd tell the woman, but she really did not know! The last time she had seen the runaway mage was when the dragons attacked! Was she to lie? Or did the woman know Erza had no idea and was only having twisted fun? She sighed, wincing at the cuts on her chest. There was nothing she could do. She was powerless and overcome with exhaustion and pain.

She could barely keep her eyes open, surprised she hadn't fainted. She didn't want to give the torturer even more pleasure. But Kyouka was merciless. Her magic? Curse? Whatever it was, was horryfing. Even the slightest touch had Erza's nerves going haywire. Shaking her head as painlessly as she could, the captured mage decided to get some rest, a loose term, given how hard that would be for someone in her predicament.

As exhaustion began to overtake her, she thought back to her most noteworthy failures ever since her meeting with a certain blonde celestial mage. It's not like she had anything better to do.


As the group of five was returning from the not-so-officially-taken-S-Class-quest, Erza was pissed off. It wasn't really because the blonde had gone on an S-Class quest with an ignorant cat and a stupid dragon slayer. It was because she had gone without an S-Class mage. She wasn't jealous, just worried. When she found out that Gray had decided to stay with the rule breakers, she had gone ballistic. The celestial mage had put herself in needless danger, and the requip mage wasn't there to save her! She would have been squashed if it weren't for Erza! Who knows what other things could have happened if the S-Class mage hadn't made it in time! This was why she was so angry. If she had just stopped them from stealing the quest and leaving, none of the "what-if's" would be crawling through Erza's brain. The possibility questions aside, Lucy wouldn't have been in danger! It was all the redhead's fault.

Erza didn't think Lucy was weak. Not in the least bit. But ever since she saw her for the very first time, the blonde had caught her interest. The desire to protect her was never ending and exponentially strong. Her fear and worry would have calmed if Gray had brought them back, but instead, the ice mage had decided to stay and deal with an old friend. Would Erza have put Lucy in danger just to deal with her past? No. She wouldn't! She would never endanger a guild mate like that. Why did her friends have to be so selfish at times?!

So, what did she do when she found the troublemaker who had decided to go with Natsu? Saved her of course, but right afterwards, tied her up and scolded her rather menacingly, hoping to get her point across. That the girl should never repeat what she had done. Doing an S-Class quest without an S-Class mage! Unheard of! Only her guild would do such stupid things! Did she regret her strict behavior? Not really. She was very angry though. All she wanted to do was get Natsu and Gray, return to the guild and have them rightfully punished. She just hoped her worry for the blonde crossed over and Lucy understood why Erza was doing what she was doing. Did it work? Maybe. She couldn't really tell. On the other hand, Lucy had always been a smart and attentive girl so Erza wouldn't have been surprised if Lucy was aware that the redhead's actions were only for the blonde's safety.

Needless to say, she felt rather bad for the punishment the girl was to receive with the ice mage and the fire dragon slayer, but it couldn't be helped. Breaking the rules meant being punished. Specially one as big as that. She would not tolerate a guild of rule breakers.

Though Erza felt for the girl, she knew this was the only way for her to learn. The older woman had to admit however, that though she was very protective of Fairy Tail, she was even more protective of Lucy. Not to mention possessive. Every time Natsu and Lucy went out on a quest, she was jealous and angry. It seemed childish, and it probably was, but Erza couldn't lie to herself. She wanted to be alone with Lucy! She didn't want Natsu close to the blonde, not one bit. Erza trusted Natsu. She considered him a younger brother. But she also knew how risky most of his actions were. It didn't help how little he thought before doing something either. The blonde would always be in danger if with him. Given everything ended up being solved, Erza still considered this a failure on her part. She had put Lucy in danger because of her inability to stop her. Letting the blonde go was her first mistake. To people looking at it from the outside, it didn't seem to be a big deal, but the requip mage could not tolerate putting the girl she liked in needless danger.


That was her first mistake in a series of nine that she had committed ever since she met Lucy. Mistakes that had put both their lives in danger. She regretted them with her entire being, yet a part of her accepted them as cause to get closer to the girl. Though they might not have seemed as major ordeals or horrifying failures to others, to this mage, they were the worst possible mistakes she could have made.

As the flame of a single candle went out, the cold shackles toying with her blood flow, Erza Scarlet sighed and thought back to her second mistake.


A/N: That's the end of chapter 1. Pretty short, planning on making the rest longer. But just as a heads up, I'm not planning on retelling entire arcs. It will mostly be how Erza was feeling during and after each of them.

Let me know your thoughts. R&R is greatly appreciate!