So, this is my first time writing a Jerza one-shot, so I'm sorry if it's not the greatest.

This was created as a secret santa gift for xxEvaScarletxx, but I hope you enjoy!

[Set after the Etherion blast in the Tower of Heaven arc. Erza's POV]

I watched in sorrow as my friends grieved over me. Lucy cried on Gray's shoulder, Happy drooped in silence, bearing not even enough energy to speak. Natsu was in denial, and I was right there with him. I watched them from above, clad in only a white dress, as I questioned my own existence.

I'm not dead! I wanted to scream. Look at me, dammit! But I couldn't, because I knew there was no use. They couldn't see me, and I wondered if I was truly gone.

"Erza." I froze, and spun around.

"Jellal." I stated.

"I'm sorry…It's all my fault. Because you freed me from myself…" He whispered, bowing his head in shame.

"For what?" I asked, puzzled. What is he doing here? Why is he floating next to me?

Jellal looked at me with pain in his eyes, and my own eyes widened. Please, don't say it…I thought, still trying to deny the truth. "Erza…" He started again, and I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the inevitable, hoping that I would wake up, that it would all be a dream. "We're dead."

I slumped to there ground—or at least I fell to lay on some invisible platform in the air—and a single tear slid out of my still-closed eyes. It was as if once I heard the words from him, the man in front of me, the man I still remembered so clearly as a boy, only then could I actually believe them to be true.

"No…" I moaned. "No, no, no, no!" How did this happen? Why? I had been prepared, I realized, to die back there in that tower. I had been ready to sacrifice myself. But when it was all over, all I was left with was a sense of shocked despair.

I sobbed, as I heard Natsu shout below me: "What are you doing, Erza? You know better than any of us! You don't die for your friends; you live for them!"

But I did die for them. And now none of us were happy.

"There, there." I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I pushed it off. Strong arms pulled me into an embrace, holding on to me and refusing to budge as I resisted, lashing out and kicking and screaming as I denied with all my might the right I had to forgive myself for failing them. All of them.

But still the arms held me, enduring my entire wrath as their owner continued to whisper, "My debt." until my tantrum had subsided, and the tears no longer flowed freely down my face.

"My debt." Jellal whispered once more when I was done. "My debt to you, I shall repay. Erza, I promise to never leave your side again. We will spend…"

"An eternity…together." I finished for him.

Jellal met my eyes. "Can you forgive me? This is all my fault."

I stood and as he stood as well, I took his hand. "There is nothing to forgive."

I smiled at him, and Jellal smiled back, reminding me of time years ago. It was a time that had been full of pain, yet filled with memories that I would cherish forever.

An eternity to spend, with the one I hold dearest. I thought to myself. Maybe…death won't be so bad after all.

Goodbye, hope you all like it! (And I hope the ending wasn't too cheesy…)

Reviews? XD