Jellal paced his office, he had been doing this for hours, trying to figure out what he should do. He sits on the edge of his desk, rubbing his forehead. He was sure Zeref would come come for Marguerite next, and he wasn't prepared. He didn't know who he could even trust anymore. Sir Dragneel had left almost a year ago, saying goodbye with nothing more than a letter. The note had given many reasons why he had to leave, but Jellal knew it was because of his brother.

A knock on his door woke him from his thoughts.

"Come in," he says, standing up and straightening his coat.

A young girl with pink hair walks in, holding a silver platter carrying multiple envelopes. Jellal takes the letters and starts looking through them when the girl says,"I was told to give you this immediately."

Jellal takes a note from her hand and reads:

Lord Siegrain,

An urgent matter has come up.

You are needed in the dungeons

on the southwest side of the palace.

-Capt. Vastia

Jellal sighs and sets the note on his desk. He looks through the rest of the mail, he throws all but one of the envelopes in the trash. It was from Ivan, the lord of the neighboring state, Clover. He was coming to Marguerite for a visit and apparently they needed to discuss something 'urgent'. He laughs to himself, the word was used too much these days.

Jellal sets the letter in the drawer of his desk and glances over at the servant.

He smiles and says, "You're dismissed now Chelia, thank you."

"Thank you Lord Siegrain," she says, curtsying before she leaves.

Jellal hates that name, but it was required for lords to use a different name for publicity reasons, though it made no sense to him.

Jellal puts his cloak on and walks into the hallway. A guard escorts him downstairs into an interrogation chamber. He meets Captain Vastia inside the room, on one side of a cloaking lacrima. He stares through the glass at the girl cuffed to one of the two chairs in the room. She had her head down and the room was dark, so he couldn't see what she looked like.

"Who is she?"

Lyon looks through his papers and then to Jellal before answering hesitantly, "She is the general who led the last three attacks on Magnolia, and killed Lord Dreyar. The search party found her this morning."

A burning rage filled within him, he knew exactly who this is. He knew personally what a murdering monster she was. The reason Magnolia had fallen to the hands of Zeref. She was a puppet of the devil, no guilt, no regrets.

"Unlock the door, I'm going in," He orders as he walks to the door to the other half of interrogation chamber. A guard with a loop of keys unlocks it and opens the door.

"My lord, it's not your job to interrogate the prisoners-"

He enters, ignoring Lyon, and takes the seat facing her.

She slowly rises her head, scarlet red hair parting around her face, making her seem demonic. Who knows, maybe she was.

"It has been quite some time, hasn't it Jellal?" she coos, an evil smile taking over her face.

Jellal stares through her, showing no emotion.

"Hello Erza."

This is only a preview, my normal chapters are much longer than this ;)