Chapter One
Jellal Fernandes had made a promise a long time ago: to never fall in love with those who walk in the light. He, who had robbed countless people of childhoods and even lives, knew that the only future he had left was to wander through the labyrinth of his mind for the rest of his life, living only to atone for his sins. But even after he had accepted this fate, she still shone like a beacon of hope in his mind. Erza Scarlet, who had deemed him worthy of a life, even after she watched him take away those of the ones she loved. It was the memory of her words that motivated him to get up and live through each day. And it was also her whom he had hurt the most. That was why he had vowed to repay the kindness she had given him, even if it costed him the life she had entrusted him with. It was on the 7th July, X791 that he fulfilled his vow.
As soon as he stepped out of the safety of the castle's walls, he saw one. A dragon; one of the fearsome creatures of legend that had been cast into the depths of history and assumed to be extinct for four hundred years. It did not even acknowledge Jellal's presence, which, in normal circumstances would have given him a massive advantage during battle. However, he knew that all it took was one sweep of its hand before he would fall to the ground and die even if he unleashed all his magic power upon it at once. For a moment, Jellal was dubious about whether there was even a point in going up against seven of these monsters. Despite these thoughts, he knew that right now, he didn't have the luxury of escaping; if everybody tried to do that and nobody fought, their world and everything in it would fall. Also, he knew, there was someone out there whom he had the duty to protect.
He observed the dragon's body in slight admiration. Its scales seemed almost impenetrable and the amount of magic power that it held was so large that it almost seemed to oppress the air itself. Reminding himself not to get sidetracked, his mind returned to the situation at hand. There weren't any dragon slayers in this vicinity, which he found odd. There were supposed to be seven dragons that were released through the Eclipse Gate and seven dragon slayers to fight them.
"Finally noticed?" Its voice was unearthly, and had an effect on Jellal disturbingly similar to the time when "Zeref" had whispered to him.
"I have noticed that there are no dragon slayers in this vicinity, therefore they must have miscounted the amount of dragons there are. However, I do not know how you got through the Eclipse Gate without anyone noticing." Jellal's reply was cool and collected, which was the complete opposite of what he was actually feeling. In truth, the dragon's words had unnerved him and its mere presence was enough to have his hairs standing on end.
"Of course you wouldn't, human. My magic is far beyond the understanding of your species."
"The bonds of friendship and the needs to protect your comrades are far beyond the understanding of your species," replied Jellal, gritting his teeth in annoyance.
"Let's see then which is stronger, shall we? My magic or these bonds of friendship you speak of." Jellal smirked, even after he had gained a humble personality, he was never one to back down from a fight. The atmosphere instantly changed as Jellal's attack began to form in his hand. The basic spell that he was about to use was not enough to land even a scratch on the dragon's scales, but it was enough to learn its response to attacks and what type of magic it used.
"My magic will not be revealed by that simple strategy boy. And my scales are enough to defend me from that tiny flash of energy you call a spell." Ugh. Losing was something Jellal had always hated to do. Even though he knew that he hadn't gotten serious at all yet, it was still irritating to have his magic and strategy mocked like that. The creature didn't even react or bother to cast a spell of any sort, seeming to be amused by Jellal's efforts. He concentrated the way he had trained himself to during battle. What was its weaknesses? Which part of its body wasn't covered in scales? He would find its one weak point, and defeat it, which would leave the dragon in pain with its guard down. Then, he would strike once more and bring it down. Sounded simple enough. Absorbing Eternano from the air, he began yet another spell. It sounded really stupid while he was thinking about it, but Jellal was about to cast Grand Chariot on the dragon's heel. It really did sound ridiculous but it was the only part of the dragon's body that he could find which wasn't covered those damned scales.
"Be judged by the seven stars, Grand Chariot!" What happened next was just a flurry of movements followed by pain that Jellal couldn't comprehend. He hadn't even seen the dragon move, and it's mood had been calm and amused. Were all dragons prone to such sudden mood swings? What the hell was he even thinking about when his arm felt like it was being burned into smithereens?
"I've had enough of your crap, trash. I was hoping for a real opponent, but I don't think I'll be able to find one if you're what your pathetic kind call powerful. Hmph, it's not like anyone can beat me anyway." He gritted his teeth and clutched his arm, bracing himself for the inevitable pain he would feel at the dragon's next attack. There was logically no way he could cast Altairis, the only spell he was capable of performing right now that would do any kind of damage to the dragon, when his right arm which was essential to the stance required to cast the spell couldn't move. Was this the end? No, it couldn't be. There were still things that Jellal considered beneath him, and dying after only one attack from a monster who had no good reason to fight him was one of them. Jellal focused. As he forced his body to gather every ounce of Eternano around him, all the while repressing the agonizing pain the wound in his right arm produced, he shouted, with all his might, the name of the spell that could give him a chance at winning this battle.
"ALTAIRIS!"
After that, he knew he would have to be replaced by another mage. Resilient as he was, using that much magic power was about to render him useless. At least he got the last laugh, he thought, falling to the ground with a thud.
"Now you've gone and done it you little boy...you're a fool if you think I'm going to spare your worthless life now." Jellal was oblivious to it; his last moments weren't going to be spent panicking. He planned to die with only her in his mind. Why she had ever loved him, he never did and still didn't know. But thinking about her love was the only happiness he would allow himself to feel. She would live on and be safe, he knew she would. With that thought, he closed his eyes, ready for what he thought was going to be his death. But the pain he had been expecting didn't come. As soon as he realized that, he knew something was wrong. Jellal burst open his eyes and was greeted by the flowing red hair he knew so well. It couldn't be...why? Why had she protected him?
"Jellal! Get back up and run, you idiot! You were just going to lie there and accept death? You should be ashamed of yourself!" Erza's voice sent a rush of adrenaline through him.
"Like hell I'm going to run and let you die! This time, I'm protecting you!" he yelled back at her.
"You've protected me many times Jellal. Anyway, you're injured and I'm not letting you fight this beast!" Her voice softened slightly and her cheeks reddened at how sweet he was even in the midst of a battle.
"Beast? Isn't that a little harsh?" Stupid dragon, ruining the mood like that. Didn't he know the bro code? And once again, what the hell was he thinking about in the middle of a battle?
"Erza, I can't stop you from doing this but I'm not letting you do it alone," he sighed. The dragon huffed in the background, obviously annoyed at being ignored.
"Jellal, sorry to be blunt, but in that state you'll be more of a hindrance." Jellal chuckled slightly. That was the harsh Erza he knew. Ex-quipping multiple swords, Erza rose into the air in her Heaven's Wheel armour, and Jellal watched the dance of her blades in awe. Yet they could not draw even a single drop of blood from the dragon's body.
"Erza, watch out!" he yelled as the creature's foot moved. He knew the pain that damned thing could cause and he sure as hell wasn't going to let her feel it. Erza dodged the attack swiftly and seemed unfazed at the thought of knowing that she could've lost a limb there. Seriously, what was he going to do with her? Uselessness really did suck.
"Venus photon slicer!" He saw many spells being cast, he admired her flawless swordsmanship but though her magic power was being worn out, he could see that the beast was still playing. And soon, the inevitable would happen. Erza would run out of magic, and face death at the hands of the dragon. But he didn't want that. And there was only one thing he could do to stop it. There was an ancient book on the various Unison Raids that had been cast in history, and one of them that really stood out to him for obvious reasons was the unison raid of a Heavenly Body mage and an ex-quipping mage. According to the book, it was cast during the times when Zeref was active. The Heavenly Body mage was nearing the end of his life, and knew there was nothing he could do to win his battle against his opponent, an unnamed creation of Zeref. Therefore, the mage had taken his "heavenly body" and transformed it into an armour. The ex-quip mage had sealed the armour into his or her dimension of weapons and merged the armour's (the Heavenly Body mage) magic power with their own, creating an ultimate spell which was rumoured to focus the power of every star and planet in the universe into one sword. But was it worth it? Erza had taught him to value his own life. Unfortunately for her, he valued her's a lot more. Taking in his last breath of fresh air on the Earth, he stood up and began to let go of his magic power, his life source. Then softly, he began to speak his last words, and cast his last spell.
"Reformabit corpus meum, o magni sidera, ad unam partem tuam. Arma, tela in ultimo fiat malus. Invoco maximum tuae magicae incantatores-ARMORUM UNIVERSI!" What Jellal felt then was like his whole life had been released in one spell (it pretty much had been). It was worth it, for with that, his life would finally have some value. Erza had been easily able to ignore his soft whispers at the start of the spell but when he yelled the ending, she halted her fight, whipping her head around. There was no sign of Jellal.
"Jellal...what have you done?" She only realised his action when her magic power began to change rapidly. It was similar, but at the same time completely different to when she donned the Nakagami armour. An armour that took up more magic power that she could afford, and undoubtedly an extremely powerful one. Yet it seemed like someone else was wearing it with her. The feeling of that magic power could only be...Jellal. Tears welled up in her eyes as the armour began to take form. She was clothed with stars, and on her head was a diadem of meteorites. Once again, she thought to herself sadly, she wasn't able to protect the one dear to her.
"Erza...I will always be with you. Let's defeat that dragon...together." His voice pierced her mind with unbearable sadness, but hope. Right now, she had to save those who would otherwise have been killed by this beast. Channeling her, no, both of their wills and emotions into her sword, she gripped it tightly. She let out a battle cry as she plunged herself into the air and with the sword that had she had bought for far too large of a price she ended the life of the beast. As she landed on the ground, she let out every single emotion she had kept bottled up during those ten seconds it had taken her to kill the dragon in one ear piercing scream. She then fell to her knees, the sudden realisation of losing her love having hit her hard. From now, she knew, no matter how many friends and comrades she would be surrounded by, Erza Scarlet would be a lone warrior. Never again would anyone lose their lives for her. She would defeat every opponent without any sacrifices. For the loss of one more person dear to her, would end the life of even the mighty Titania.
Authors note: Yeah, this fight scene sucked SO bad. This is my first story, so don't hold back at all in your reviews (no, seriously, send me flames if you want), and let me know what you didn't like and liked about this story so I can improve my writing please. Damn, I kind of reminded myself of Wendy during her fight against Cheria there. I'm pretty sure that Jellal was out of character in this with the bro code stuff but being a devoted follower of Barney Stinson, I just had to add that in. His spell was in Latin, because Latin is an awesome language that makes everything sound epic. You can use google translate to find the meaning if you'd like to.