Boogey56 wanted me to write a Jelgura, Heartbeat of Hatred fic in a samurai AU. You really should not have asked be to do that, my friend.
Also written for FT Angst Week, Bonus Day 1 – Cross My Heart.
Warning: Blood, violence, character death
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Kagura's life was a peaceful one, if hard.
The second child of a fallen samurai family, her upbringing was far from wealthy. Her and her brother never seemed to have everything they needed at one time. Most of the time they had food, though. Millet was filling, if bland. Holes in her clothes had to be patched with the remnants of other articles, cannibalized from the few possessions her parents had managed to retain.
Somehow, neither Kagura nor Simon could bear to sell their father's katanas, or take them to a smithy to be melted down, though. No matter how hard their situation became, they couldn't bear to part with them. There were too many memories engraved into the steel; invisible, but tangible all the same.
Wouldn't matter either way – there was no one to sell the blades to, and the blacksmith wouldn't touch such works of art.
Poor too, was the village they lived in. A small farming community with well-tended rice paddies and not too many children. Young workers were in demand, so Simon and Kagura never wanted for work, though the pay was meager. As the eldest son and now family head with the death of their mother a couple years before, Simon did what he could to provide for himself and his younger sibling, but it was tough on one so young. He always took on more than he should have to bear, to Kagura's thinking.
After a long day in the paddies, Simon and Kagura would take to the field behind their tiny, one room home. There they would practice the swordplay that their father had once used. Or rather, what they could remember of it before the war took him away from them forever.
Another child would join them in these sessions. An orphan as well, her name was Erza. Patiently, the redhead would listen to Simon's lectures, and follow Kagura's instructions on how to properly hold a katana. Erza loved them – bokken, shinai, katanas, and the katas. More than Kagura did.
What Kagura loved was Erza. More than anything. She was like an older sister to the young child. So bright, and full of vigor. Erza didn't speak about her past, nor did Simon or Kagura ever ask. It was better that way.
Simon, too, loved Erza. Kagura knew her brother. She could see it, perhaps even more clearly than Simon himself did. If she had to, she'd share Erza with her brother. That way she could keep both of them. They meant so much to her.
Every once in a while, a boy with blue hair would show up at their doorstep. Just as they were finishing for the day - the sky bright with countless stars. Erza always lit up when she saw him, her sunset hair flying as she ran to meet him.
Kagura wasn't so sure how she felt about sharing Erza with him. Simon, though, seemed all too ready to accept the mysterious boy. Was he craving interaction with another boy his own age? Kagura didn't know. All she knew was that this child with strange blue hair, and a red tattoo upon his face, was taking her siblings away from her.
She didn't like him. But she would tolerate him. For Simon and Erza.
Yes, Kagura was happy. Tending the rice was hard, sword-work was hard. Living was hard. But she loved it all the same.
Until the night her world ended.
Kagura stirred, bone weary. There was light under the door, and Kagura could see three shadows moving across it.
She lifted her head. What was Simon doing up? It was the middle of the night. It was far too early for work in the fields. Harvest would be soon, so she needed all the sleep she could get. So did Simon.
Kicking off her futon blankets, she semi-crawled to the door. It was way too early for this! She froze when she reached it, hearing muffled voices. Was Simon talking to someone? What about?
Were Simon, Erza, and Jellal having fun without her?
How rude! If they thought they could leave her out of the fun, they had another thing coming.
Tentatively, she eased the door open, ready to shout at them for being jerks.
She froze.
Everything...
Everything was on fire.
The paddies were burning, the village homes were aflame. In the distance, she thought she heard screams.
However, Kagura barely noticed any of it, riveted by the scene in front of her - of a boy, griping Erza's arm. There was no mistaking her - for her hair was as bright as the encroaching flames.
"Stop it, Jellal!" Erza screamed. "Let go of me!"
Was that... was that blood dripping down Erza's face...?
Oh gods! Her eye! What happened to her eye?!
Simon stood before them, her brother dwarfing the two. "Jellal! Let Erza go!"
"No!" Jellal snapped, his eyes wide, and face split into an eerie grin that sent chills down Kagura's spine. "You can't protect her. It'll be me from now on. We don't need you!"
Erza tried to pull free of Jellal, though his grip was like iron. She drew her free hand back. With a cracking sound, her palm connected with Jellal's face. "Let go of me!" In surprise, Jellal dropped her arm, and Erza scrambled behind Simon. "What's going on with you?!" she demanded. "This isn't like you! You're acting strange!"
Then Kagura watched, in transfixed horror, as a gleaming blade was brought down upon Simon.
A wail shattered the night, as her brother fell into the dirt.
"Simon!" Erza screamed, her hands outstretched to her friend. Gently, Erza turned him so he faced the sky.
"S-Simon," whimpered Kagura. "S-Simon." Fat tears tracked through the dust on her cheeks, but her throat closed and no sound save for what already had, passed from her lips. She opened her mouth, to scream, to cry. But nothing came. Kagura watched in strangled silence as Erza begged, pleaded for Simon not to die.
Jellal stood over them, the sword in his hand dripping with his friend's blood. Scarlet, bright in the flickering flames.
Scarlet, like Erza's hair, sprawled across Simon's chest as it stilled.
A sound must have escaped Kagura then, for Jellal stiffened and turned towards her. "You," he spat out. "You should have stayed inside."
Terror paralyzed her as the older boy began to advance. Reaching her, Jellal grabbed her hair. "Stand up!" he commanded, pulling up on the captured strands.
A wail of pain finally found its way into the night air, Kagura's legs wobbling as she was forced to them.
Erza's head snapped up from Simon's prone form. "Jellal!" she screamed. "Please, no! I'll go with you! Just... just leave Kagura alone! Please!"
Jellal hesitated, his eyes flickering over to the girl. "Promise." His words were flat, and cold. So different from how Kagura remembered them.
"I promise!" Erza choked, tears flowing from her good eye, and blood from her other. "I'll do anything you want! Just let Kagura be!"
He considered it a moment, weighing the choice between just killing Kagura and forcing Erza to go along with him anyway. But then he shrugged, and dropped the child. "Fine."
A clattering sound came from beside her. Kagura stared at the weapon he'd so casually disposed of, her brother's blood dulling the blade's shine. It was one of theirs, she noted vaguely. Its guard was distinct - something her father had designed.
And he'd just... dropped it?
Kagura reached out a shaking hand, barely grasping the hilt. It was slick, with her brother's blood and her own sweat.
"Come now, Erza!" Jellal laughed. "Don't give me that look! This is really all for the better. I'm going to remake this place... no, this world! All for you, and for us. So smile!"
"I promised to come with you," Erza growled, staggering to her feet. She took a few steps towards him. "I didn't promise to smile."
Jellal's own faded. "Well... that won't exactly be a problem, either."
Holding the hilt of the katana with both hands, Kagura stood up as well. Her limbs weren't cooperating - she could barely raise the tip of the sword from the ground.
Suddenly Jellal whirled around, and kicked the blade from Kagura's weak grasp. It skittered across the pebbled dirt, coming to a rest beside Simon's body. "You're going to have to try harder than that!" he taunted.
"Stop, Jellal!" Erza said. "You promised to leave her alone!"
"So I did," he mused. Making a motion across his chest, Jellal's gave Erza a lopsided, malicious smile. "Cross my heart, and hope to die!" When Erza only glared at him, he rolled his shoulders. "We should be off, then."
Kagura crawled towards the weapon, and her brother. If she could just...
"Kagura!" Erza yelled over her shoulder, Jellal's hand griping her arm firmly to keep her by his side. "I'm so sorry! I couldn't... I couldn't do anything more for you!" A sob burst from the redhead. "I'm so sorry!"
"Erza..." Kagura mumbled. "I..."
"Live! Live! Please, please don't come after me! I want you to live!" Erza pleaded.
"That's enough," commanded Jellal, wrenching her arm as he strode away. "We're leaving."
Kagura watched as they left, her tears having dried on her face at last.
She glanced at Simon, and with a shaking hand, closed his eyes. Then she placed his hands over his stomach. "I'm so sorry, big brother," she whispered. "I hope this will be enough for your funeral pyre."
Then she picked up the blade, and right there above her brother's body, she made a vow.
She would get stronger. She would live, like Erza told her to.
One day, she would be ready to face Jellal again, and with this sword that took her brother away, she would get Erza back.
And then she would drag this blade across Jellal's heart…
And he would die.
I fell in love writing this. I'm gonna make an epically long version. Multi-chapter, with so many plot twists.
I watch too many samurai dramas.