October 22nd, Monday
The wind howled as rain battered against a window in the late hour of the night. The cracking sound of the thunder was everywhere and coming from the dark clouds lightning struck here and there, lighting up the sky for a second before vanishing. Jellal Fernandes, age twenty-five, sat at the bar in the old tavern simply drinking away his emotions downing his fifth glass of Whiskey. The man just couldn't get over the fact that he was now unemployed. Why would his company do that to him? He was a hard worker and he always showed up on time. He just couldn't wrap his brain around the whole idea that he was 'let go'. What did he do to deserve this? Was it bad karma? What did he do that made God think that he deserved this? The economy was horrible as of late so finding another job would be almost impossible and mentioning this news to his girlfriend would be even more awful considering the fact that she didn't work as it was.
"Another sir?" The bartender asked him as he cleaned a glass with a rag.
He held up his hand and shook his head. The man behind the counter understood his motions and then made his way down the bar to see if anyone else wanted another drink. The blue haired man grabbed his glass off the counter and finished off what little was left in one chug. He set the glass back down as he stood, getting ready to pay off his tab for the night. As he pulled his wallet from his pocket two officers approached him from behind.
"Jellal Fernandes?" The pudgier of the two officers asked the young gentleman who stared at them with his vision fuzzy. He didn't wish to speak, as he knew he wouldn't be able to form proper sentences. He simply nodded at the officers as he grabbed the back of the bar chair to help him keep his balance. The officers looked at one another before the one officer continued, "we have something we need to inform you about. Why don't you sit back down?"
He nodded and sat back down in the chair that he had been seated in for quite some time. He placed an elbow on the counter and rested his head in his hand, intertwining his fingers in his long cobalt locks. The two officers remained standing before him, "Mr. Fernandes, we just received a call from a woman named Mrs. Milkovich recently. She called to inform us that she received a phone call from her daughter about three hours ago. She said that her daughter was acting rather odd when she spoke to her earlier. When she went to visit her at her apartment the door was unlocked and she found her daughter laying on the couch," the taller of the two officers explained.
Jellal stared at the officers with a confused look on his face as he raised a brow. He was trying to comprehend what they were saying to him. The two officers looked at each other once more before the taller one spoke again, "Mr. Fernandes, your girlfriend was found dead, her mother wanted us to inform you of this."
Jellal's green eyes widened as he stared at the officers. He stood and steadied himself by placing a hand on the bar counter. "Why," he mumbled softly under his breath as he punched his fist into the bar countertop. It drew everyone's attention as all their eyes were plastered on him, "why would something like that happen to Ultear?" His voice was a bit louder and uneasy, as if he was holding back all of his anger. His body began to shake. He punched the bar once more, causing the knuckles on his right hand to bleed.
The two officers restrained him some and sat him back down, "Mr. Fernandes, allow us to take you home."
"Let go of me!" He yelled as he swatted the officers' hands away from him and stood up in a rage of anger. He was shaking violently as he ran a hand through his blue bangs that were sticking to his sweaty forehead. He quickly removed himself from the small rundown bar not knowing what else there was for him to do.
He walked outside right into the storm not caring how wet he got or even if he was struck by a bolt of lightening, his life was already falling to shambles as it was so what else could possibly go wrong now? There was a chill in the air and thunder rolled across the sky as if someone was bowling on the top of the clouds. Fat raindrops splashed on the sidewalk, forming puddles like pools of tears that Jellal would never cry. The smell of alcohol on his breath lingered. Jellal looked up at the street light and it revealed the rain in the darkness. The sky was a million shades of gray painting its own pictures in the clouds. He placed his hands in his jacket pockets as he wandered into an alleyway just right of the bar, stumbling. He slid his back down the brick wall that belonged to the little italian bistro just right of the rundown bar he had just exited. He bent his head back on the cold bricks and allowed the rain to hit his face. Another flash of lightning and a crack of thunder lit up the sky and more rain began to fall. Jellal let out a sigh as he tilted his head back down as if in a trance and stared at his bloodied knuckles.
"Damn." He spoke softly as he shook his hand a few times before placing it down in a puddle of muddy water. The rain made his blue hair stick to his face and the raindrops rolled down his cheeks and chin and onto his shirt. They were acting like the tears he wanted to cry but knew he never would. He was mumbling incoherently to himself not minding the fact that he was sitting in a dark alley as the rain poured down from the gloomy dark sky.
"Jellal," came a female's voice. His head shot up and looked around. The voice was coming from behind him. He let his green eyes wander behind him. Nothing, only trash cans, "Jellal Fernandes." There it was again.
"I'm hearing things," he spoke to himself as he went to stand. As he fumbled to get up, he felt another arm take a tight hold of his and help him stand.
"No you aren't," a woman was standing before him in a black uniform that consisted of a cowl and mask that covered her face, boots, and armour with buckles and straps running down the chest, back, and across the waist. On her side Jellal could see two daggers. He stared at her with curious eyes.
"Jellal Fernandes, you have been chosen to join Fairy Tail," she spoke rather sternly to him. He could see her eyes staring intensely at him.
"What?" He raised a thin blue brow and moved some of his wet hair out of his face. He slowly moved his arm out from the woman's grip.
"Fairy Tail. If you wish to know more about it then go to the north side of town and look for the abandoned church. You enter it and walk down to the basement. You will be asked a question to which you answer with 'Family, my brother'. We'll be waiting for you." Then the woman quickly climbed up the old fire escape, blending in with the blackness that surrounded her, making her seem like she was nothing more than a shadow.
"Wait a second, how do you even know I'll show up?" Jellal asked, his tone of voice was filled with nervousness and the desire to know even more.
"Your curiosity will get the better of you. See you soon Jellal Fernandes." And just like that, the woman vanished, leaving Jellal standing in the rain looking up at the old rusted fire escape attached to the bistro. The rain hit his face but he didn't seem to mind. What seemed to bother him the most was who that woman was, how she knew his name, and how she knew where she could find him.
"My curiosity?" He asked himself as he put the hood attached to his jacket onto his head, grabbed his pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket, put one in his mouth, and grabbed his lighter out of his front right pant pocket. He cupped his hand on top of the cigarette and lit it. He used the wall beside him to help him keep his balance as he walked out of the alley and faced the open road. It was not disturbed by idle bikers or speeding cars. The rain and the breeze caused the red and orange leaves that were on the ground to skip lazily along the quiet road; they hardly made a sound. Jellal walked silently in the rain, occasionally blowing smoke into the air around him. The night's wind was cold and the rain just made things colder, making gentle noises as the drops hit the abandoned road. It was weird not seeing a single soul out this late at night. But then again, unlike Jellal, people had to wake up early in the morning to head to their jobs, their livelihood, their way to support themselves and their family... Something Jellal no long had. He stumbled his way into a small park, the very same park where he met Ultear just four years ago. The same park where he and Ultear came every year on the anniversary of the day they got together. This small park consisted of so many memories that he had made throughout the years, but his mind wasn't focused on those memories. His mind was instead focused on the issue at hand. The blue haired man took one final puff from his cigarette before flicking the butt in front of him stepping on it with his boot. He took a seat on a bench and ran his long and slender fingers through his wet hair, "What's happening to my life?" He mumbled softly to himself as he looked down at his feet, "and more importantly who was that mysterious woman from earlier?" The words she spoke to him kept racing back and forth in his head, pounding on his brain as if it were a snare drum.
Your curiosity will get the better of you.
"What did she mean by that?" He bit his bottom lip as he thought about the mystery woman's words. "Better yet, who the hell was she?"
Family, my brother.
"What does it all mean? Are they here to help me? Perhaps they can put my life somewhat back on the track it was before." He grabbed hold of some of his hair in his hands.
We'll be waiting for you.
"If they're waiting for me then surely I need to go. Perhaps God sent that woman to me as a sign of hope."
The rain was falling down even harder than it was before. A flash of lightning lit up the dull colored sky that surrounded him. He released the hair that was being held tightly in his hands and looked up at the sheet of black fabric that covered the Earth above his head. The raindrops fell down upon his face and rolled down his cheeks. The hood that was once resting on his head fell back against the fabric of his coat. His cobalt coloured locks began to dance freely in the wind as it blew heavily. He closed his olive colored orbs and let out a deep breath, "maybe I should do as that woman instructed of me. It couldn't possibly hurt."
Fairy Tail
"But on the other hand I have no idea who these Fairy Tail people even are," he was arguing with himself. "They could quite possibly be out to kill me." Which was a possibility. Anything now a days was possible and could easily catch him off guard at any given moment. Him being laid off came as a shock and Ultear's death was the topping of the serving of depressing news he had received within the short time frame.
"However they probably came to me because they knew I needed help and guidance."
He sighed once more. He didn't know right from wrong or fact from fiction any longer. He stood uneasily and slowly began leaving the small park with his eyes plastered down on the ground as he walked. The rain fell against the back of his head and rolled down to the nape of his neck and down the back of his shirt. The cold water made him shudder as it touched his bare back. He shivered for a brief moment before he decided to place the black jacket's hood back over his head, trying to prevent that from happening again.
You'll surely get sick if you don't dress appropriately for the cold season.
Ultear once told him that. As her smiling face, gorgeous chocolate orbs, and long raven coloured hair appeared in his mind he smiled softly to himself. He was going to miss her smile and of course her in general. She was the light in his life and without her he felt like he was nothing. Nothing but a mere shell that housed his former self. The old Jellal seemed to have died when he found out about his beautiful Ultear, leaving him nothing more to be than a walking corpse. He was nothing now; nothing but the pure darkness that covered him on this rainy night. He was nothing more than an empty frame just waiting to be filled with something to take away the loneliness that was now his life. As he thought about her and how she was now gone, his smile faded into a frown that matched in his eyes. The question of why written in the lines around his handsome features. Why was Ultear dead? Why did he lose his job? Why did this organization come to him? Nothing seemed to make a whole lot of sense, but at the moment nothing else really mattered. Jellal stumbled his way along the abandoned road and the rain itself started to lighten up as it fell into nothing more than a light drizzle that made pitter pat sounds on the very ground he walked on. He stepped on a crisp leave that crunched under his boot and the wind blew away the pieces. Jellal ran his fingers through his bangs and moved them from his eyes only to realize that he had stumbled his way to the old abandoned church without realizing what he had done. He leaned again an old and long dead elm tree and stared at the old building with crossed arms, "I guess my curiosity did get the best of me." He let out a sigh as he slowly made his way to the door.
There was a sense of abandonment in the building, it was old and forgotten. Jellal made his way through the door that hung wearily upon its corroded hinges. The paint on the walls peeled and flaked as though the church had a disease of the skin. The boards of the floor were warped through age and neglect. Though the windows were intact the buildup of grime acted like a natural curtain blanketing the light that entered and making it meagre. Webs from productive spiders adorned the corners, the fittings and anywhere else that they could spin two pieces of silken trappings together from. The pews where people once use to sit were covered in dust and the spiders had placed their webby homes there as well. Jellal looked around at the large stained glass window that was placed at the front of the church behind the altar where a pastor would stand to start the service every Sunday morning. The window showed the story from Genesis chapter three; the story of how Adam and Eve sinned, the consequences that resulted and the promise of a redeemer. Jellal looked up at the window and took a deep breath as he made his way down the dusty aisle with the pews on either side of him. His footsteps echoed all around him with each step he took.
Walk down to the basement.
It was then that he saw the old door behind the altar that led down to the basement. With shaky hands he reached for the knob and before his hand even touched the old metal object, it opened, leading down into the darkness. He took a deep breath and began walking down, shutting the door behind him. As he walked down the stairs, he felt unsettled, something like the sense of walking right into trouble. They were gripping him by his boots, squeezing his feet. Then suddenly they let go. He lurched forward and then backward and nearly fell, he could have rolled down them perhaps even to his death but he didn't. He grabbed hold of the old railing next to him but suddenly he let go as he felt something scurry across the top of his hand. As he continued going further down the steps he saw several dimly lit candles lining either side of the stairs. The flames flickerd and moved back and forth, as if they were dancing to greet the young man. As he reached the bottom of the steps, he was greeted by another door, this one looking much newer than the one he had entered from. It looked as if it was made out of stone with a skull chiseled out of it. He raised up a hand to knock but before he could, a mysterious voice asked the question that he was told would be asked, "what is the greatest bond in life?"
As he lowered his hand, he answered with a shaky voice, "family, my brother."
The floor below him began to shake violently below his feet and he grabbed onto the railing that was next to him in order to keep his balance. As he kept his focus on the door, he saw it opening, leading into a dark room that wasn't illuminated by any sort of light. When he could finally stand up steadily, he entered the room, watching as the door shut behind him, leaving him standing there in the darkness.
"Jellal Fernandes, you have arrived," it was that woman's voice from earlier. He could feel her presence coming from behind him.
He tried to pinpoint her exact location as he allowed his green eyes to search the darkness. He could hear footsteps approaching him from before him. As he shot his eyes forward, he could see several people approaching him holding candles, which made the room have a slight glow to it.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail." She spoke to him from her perch on the old shelf.
He looked up at her and watched as she jumped down and landed right before him, landing perfectly on her feet like an agile cat. She walked in front of him, towards the others who had joined him in the room he had just entered. The room was now illuminated by the light from a few dozen candles placed all around the large sanctuary that this group called their home.
"Why did you come to me?" He turned to face the woman who was removing the cowl from her head and her mask from over her mouth. Her long scarlet hair fell to her mid-back and she looked at him with chocolate eyes.
"You'll understand soon enough, now come with me." She began walking into a different room. He watched as her hips swayed side to side, and her hair danced with her movements. Jellal looked at all the other members in the room as he followed her to wherever it was was she was leading him. She took him behind an old tattered red curtain to a small room with several candles placed in a circle around a pentagram drawn in a red substance that looked as if it had stained the floor. The red headed woman kneeled down and looked up at him before she patted the ground next to her, "come. Sit down next to me Jellal Fernandes."
"You do know that you don't have to say my full name right? Just Jellal will do." He spoke as he sat down next to her.
"Yes, if that's what you want." She grabbed one of the daggers that was in one of the holsters on her hips and looked back at him with a emotionless face, "give me your hand."
"What for?"
"We must perform the sacrament to our unholy savior Zeref. Now please, give me your hand."
He nodded and held out his left hand to her. With one swift movement of her hand, a large cut appeared on his palm. The liquid ruby substance made red streams down his arm and fell between the spaces between his fingers. He watched as a few droplets fell onto the ground.
"Unholy savior Zeref, a newcomer has arrived in our sanctuary. He beckons for you to accept him into your arms with this sacrifice of his blood." She grabbed his hand and flipped it so his palm was facing down, "datum perficiemus munus."
More blood fell from his hand onto the ground. Drip. Drip. That was the sound it made as it hit the cold stone floor. As she released his wrist from her grip, she cut her own palm and placed it onto the ground, "I welcome thee into the family. Jellal Fernandes, welcome to Fairy Tail." She had just welcomed him in, bonding them in blood before their savior. She placed the dagger back into her holster at her side and stood, "welcome to the family."
She exited the room, leaving him sitting there alone. He looked at the fresh cut on his palm and watched as the blood made little streaks down his pale skin. He stood and shook his hand several times before exiting the small room through the tattered red curtain, joining the others of his new family. As he joined them, there he saw the mysterious scarlet haired female walking towards him with what appeared to be armour in her arms. The scarlet haired woman kneeled down on one knee and held the armour up to him, "for you my brother."
He nodded slightly as he accepted the gift with open arms. The red headed female stood and looked at another female standing behind her, "Lucy, please show Jellal where he shall be staying."
The woman named Lucy nodded, "please follow after me." Her voice was quiet. So quiet that he didn't even hear her speak at first. She began walking off toward the far back of the sanctuary and he looked at her momentarily before he shot his gaze back to the mysterious scarlet haired woman. He sighed, and began walking swiftly in order to keep up with the young female who seemed as if she was floating on the ground before them. She led him down a long corridor that seemed as if it was never ending until they reached a series of doors. She stopped before one of the last ones at the end of the hall, "this will be your room. You may change into your armour in there and get yourself situated." She then turned her back and started to walk away.
"Wait," Jellal spoke out, stopping her in her tracks. Lucy turned to face him.
"Yes Jellal, what is it you request of me?" Lucy asked, her voice still soft.
"It's nothing," he shot the girl a smile as he entered into his room. But really, it wasn't nothing. He wanted to ask her what the scarlet haired woman's name was so he could put her face to a name. But instead, he had just decided on finding the right time to properly ask the red head herself.
The room itself was small but it was large enough for him. There was a bed already made up with fresh linens. There were two candles that seemed as if they were freshly lit and placed on a small end table on the right of the bed. His boots made clunking noises against the cold stone floor as he walked inside the room and shut the door behind him. There was a tiny closet, that seemed as if it hadn't been used in quite some time. He sat on the bed and listening to it as it creaked. Jellal placed the armour down next to him. He rested an elbow onto his knee and placed his head into his uncut palm. He groaned out before he looked back at the armour sitting next to him. He stood as he stripped himself out of his jacket and his shirt, exposing his muscular chest. He was handsome, that was obvious for anyone to tell with his thin yet muscular build. He grabbed the armored shirt and held it in his hands, looking it over with his emerald eyes. The knock on his door startled him some, "come in."
The door opened slowly and in walked the mysterious red head that he knew nothing about. She stared at him briefly, before she spoke, "I apologize about the size of the room if it is not to your liking. Unfortunately this is as big as they come down here." She stared at him, not being able to remove her brown orbs from his well toned chest.
"It's quite alright um..." that's right, he had no idea what her name was, "I'm sorry but it seems as if I never really found out what your name was."
"Erza," her voice was soft as she spoke to him, "my name is Erza."
He smiled at her, "it's nice to properly meet you, Erza."
The two stared at one another for a while. His green eyes met her brown ones and they remained standing there in one spot and just stared at each other, as if they were allowing their eyes to stare right into the other person's soul, as if they wanted to burn a hole through the other's heart. The room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop against the stone floor below their feet.
"So what did you come in here for?" He finally broke the silence between the two of them.
"Once you get dressed I wish for you to meet the other members of the family. Just join us out in the lounge once you feel as if you are ready," and with that, she left the room without saying another word. He watched her leave. He watched as her hips swayed back and forth, and he watched as her luscious scarlet colored hair danced behind her as she moved. She shut the door softly, leaving him along once in his room yet again.
He placed the armored top on quickly and then sripped himself out of his boot and his tattered jeans, throwing them across the small room. He grabbed the armored bottoms and slid them on. As he went to put on his own boots, it was then that he saw a pair that matched the armour he was wearing just sitting in the back of the closet. Unsure if they were there before, he raised a brow as he walked towards them. He brushed cobwebs aside as he grabbed the footwear and slid them onto his feet. He readied himself to exit the room when it was then that he remembered that there was still a pair of gloves, a mask, and a cowl laying on his bed. But what exactly did he need to wear those things now for? He wasn't going out to do anything. He was simply walking around in Fairy Tail's sanctuary getting ready to meet his new found family. He then exited the room, going to join the others.
The lounge was quite large. The members of Fairy Tail were all seated at a large table that was covered in an old red tablecloth, looking as if it matched the curtains that were placed around the sanctuary perfectly. Jellal walked in quietly and observed everyone's face. The people that he saw ranged in age, some being around his own age, and some being older. The only person that he could probably put a name with was Erza but that was surely about to change. His eyes met hers once again as he sat down at the opposite end of the table. The others greeted him with smiles before they looked back at the woman who was standing at an end of the long table.
"My brothers and my sisters, today we welcome a new member into our family. The blood ritual was made to our savior Zeref between he and I. This young man called out to us in his time of need and we answered him. He has much potential to become one of the greatest members that our guild has ever seen. As the leader of Fairy Tail I have chosen him for certain purposes, much like how I chose all of you. So now my brothers and sisters, it is time to meet our newest brother, Jellal Fernandes."
Leader.
She was the leader of the group and she found him out of all 7,039,397,213 people. He felt honoured but at the same time he wondered about what it was that he had done that made him stand out to her that would make her want to welcome him into the family of Fairy Tail. The crowd around him began to clap and cheer as he stood, making himself known to the others that were sitting around him. Jellal was unsure of what he had gotten himself into, but now he knew that he was going to get along just fine with everyone else.
"I thank you all for your warm welcome my brothers and sisters. It is a honour to be here with all of you and I promise that I will do everything in my power to make you proud of me," he spoke with a smile on his face. He stared back at Erza who had her eyes simply locked on him and nothing else but him. In a way, it caused him to have an eerie vibe run down his spine but at the same time he really didn't seem to mind it. In a way it seemed as if she was filling the void that Ultear had recently left in his heart even though he knew it was wrong. He shouldn't be allowing someone he had just met to wiggle their way into his life. He knew that he shouldn't allow a girl to fill the void of his recently lost girlfriend. But then again, he just couldn't seem to push Erza away from him. It was as if she had him locked deep in a trance that she wouldn't let him out of. She batted her long eyelashes at him as she shot a smile in his direction. Her pink lips curled as she herself began to clap softly for him, truly making him feel welcomed openly into her group that was called a family.
Hello everyone! This is my own Alternate Universe Fairy Tail story that has been made into a fanfiction from an original story that I am writing. The updates with this will be completely random, seeing as I'll update whenever I finish writing the chapters and then editing them. Anyway, this story is suppose to be sort of dark and twisted but seeing as this is the first chapter that might be sort of hard to tell. There are a lot of things that the first chapter didn't tell you, and those are things that you won't find out until much later. Now please know that I don't ship Ultear and Jellal in any way, however I needed him to have a now deceased girlfriend which is why I simply used her instead of Erza since, as you can tell, Erza plays a big role in this story thus far. A lot of weird things are going to happen throughout the course of this story but that's the point, it's dark and twisted. So what did you guys think of this story so far? Do you all love it? Or do you hate it? Either way, let me know with your reviews. See you all again when I post the next update.