Ex-V: I hope you like it!
Erza hummed lightly to herself, strolling through the bustling city streets of Fiore; behind her, she dragged a massive orcish corpse by one horn.
All around her, people scampered to clear her way, but this wasn't particularly unusual, and she paid it no mind. The corpse she was tugging along was likely frightening them, and she didn't blame the lay folk for their fear.
Her ears did perk up, however, when she heard a small group of women nearby whispering to one another, in hushed hurried tones.
"Did you hear what happened...?"
"To Jellal? I know, I can't believe it!"
Erza froze in place, blinking. Her eyebrows rocketed up, and she whirled around, instantly wary. Cold panic gripped her heart, as her mind slowly processed the exchange she'd just picked up on.
Jellal? To Jellal?!
She repeated, in her mind, suddenly breathless. Unconsciously, she sharpened her hearing, trying to listen in and hear more... From somewhere behind her, she heard another group of girls chatting amicably to one another.
"-They said it was an accident, didn't they? But... That can't be true-"
"I know, right?! It was definitely on purpose... Come on, this is Jellal we're talking about-"
Panicked, Erza whirled around again; dropping the Orc she'd slain behind her.
Horrified, the redhead dialed up Mirajane, on the lacrimal crystal she kept attached to her left wrist.
"Hello?" Fairy Tail's bar maid answered, in a huff, mildly annoyed, after a brief moment of ringing silence. "Hellooo, What? I'm busy-!"
"Mira-!" Erza managed, and her voice cracked slightly. She was practically whispering, frantically, almost overcome. "Mira, what happened! What happened, is he alright-?!"
Mirajane was silent for a moment, and then laughed, weakly. "Oh, Erza... I knew you would call."
"Tell me, Mirajane! What happened-"
"Erza." The takeover mage answered, in a heavy, decisive voice; cutting her old rival off mid-panic attack. The Knight fell silent, strangled. "You need to pick up a copy of Sorcerous Weekly, right now."
Head spinning, Erza just nodded, lamely; managing to orient herself in the world, on the street, she snapped back into reality from a sort of horrified trance. The redhead sprinted over to the nearest newspaper stand, immediately yanking a copy of the magazine off the shelves from her tip toes. The kiosk vendor's stunned protests fell on deaf ears, and the orcish corpse lay forgotten in the street, behind her.
The cover of Sorcerous Weekly, as usual, was displaying a highly flattering picture of Jellal. This time, however, the words "A Long Twenty - four hours!" were scrawled across the top, superimposed in big, bright letters.
Struggling desperately to swallow her terror, and gulping down a heavy breath, somewhat lightheaded, Erza flipped wildly through the magazine, and the world seemed to fall away around her as she found the page with the article describing his most recent fiasco…
The words "Accident" and "preventable" jumped out at her, instantly, throttling her mind, but, after swaying for a moment, faintly, in place, she managed to steady herself and read the page from the top.
"Special Operative commander Jellal Fernandes, the magic councilman, made history for the first time when he became the first mage to be certified as two wizard saints, with his thought-projection and himself both qualifying for the title. Since then, he's had a storied list of accomplishments, as the Guildmaster of Special Forces, Evil hunting Crime Sorciere, and stands in rarefied air, at the ripe young age of twenty – nine, among the greatest magic users to ever live.
Late last night, however, we can be reasonably sure, won't go down In history as one of his greater moments; almost immediately after the incident, the Fiore Observer reported that Jellal had been ensnared In a vicious trap, falling prey to a devastating curse. As of press time today, however, we have learned that this was no mistake, no accident; according to Special operative Lieutenant Meredy, Jellal's trusted second-in-command, he acted with the full knowledge that he would be captured by the trap-spell, and did so regardless, saving the lives of three architectural archeology mages being escorted by Crime Sorciere.
Also commenting, Special Operative Sergeants Midnight and Cobra, who claimed, and I quote, "It's not a big deal, really. He saved a few lives, that's what he does every day." and "For someone as powerful as our master, the curse won't last more than twenty four hours. Sure, it would kill a normal mage, but it means a day of inconvenience for him."
Erza took a deep, steady breath, inhaling. The dizziness was fading, and her eyes weren't swimming anymore. Her hands slowly stopped tremoring... The desperation and terror receded, this wasn't her nightmare. This wasn't a world without Jellal, a world she had no reason to live in…
"Given this, we can only speculate as to the effects of the curse, but our very own crack reporting team in the field tracked down a specialist, who had this to say:
"I've seen curses like this before, yes... It seems to me that he must have moved at nearly the speed of light to save those three archeologists, considering these runes and circles here... You see, those are seals for the heart and lungs. Honestly, it's difficult to say what the effects of this kind of curse would be on someone as powerful as Jellal Fernandes, but I expect he'll be unable to access his magic for at least a day and a half."
You heard that right, dear reader! A day and a half without magic! For the infamous SpecOps Jellal, this may represent more of a danger than almost anything else, as he's made countless enemies over the course of his monumentally impressive tenure, powerful enemies, who would no doubt love the chance to confront the historic Wizard Saint when he's powerless! Needless to say, Jellal can be assumed to be under tight surveillance, under a lock and key until his magic returns, and will surely be guarded by Crime Sorciere around the clock until then.
What will Erza make of all this? As of press time, it appears that she's out of town on a covert, S-rank mission, but as she has been suspected for many years of being Jellal's famous unknown fiancee, we can guess that she'll be desperate to protect her man-"
Erza shut the magazine, heart hammering in her chest; her pulse was still racing, throbbing in her temples, even as she made a concerted effort to relax her tensed muscles. Her chest heaved, and she took a few subdued breaths, just standing for a moment in the town square, reeling.
Twenty four hours without magic? Jellal, with no magic?
For a whole day?!
The redhead wandered over to a nearby bench, in front of the city fountain, taking a seat in a trance-like daze.
Her first instinct was fear, she was afraid for him, afraid that he might really be assassinated or something while his magic was sealed away…
She nibbled her fingernails, desperately.
Crime Sorciere would guard him, though... They would guard him, and so would she...
Nobody would lay a finger on him, not if she had anything to say about it!
Erza jumped to her feet, still slightly winded but determined. She raised her wrist lacrima to her lips, preparing to call Meredy and make right for the Cliffside Fortress, but froze again; she twitched, blinking, speechless, and then screwed her mouth shut.
Wait.
Wait, hang on.
Starting to feel somewhat giddy, somewhat excited, Erza could feel heat bubbling up Into her breast, as a light blush tinged her cheeks.
Hold on…
If he has no magic, he can't run away... He Can't run away, even if I confront him about our relationship!
(Thirty three minutes later)
Erza strolled into the Clifftop fortress, the longtime home of special forces Guild Crime Sorciere.
It's location, a mystery to the general public, had always been known to her, ever since the foundation was first laid.
"Erzaaa… Oh, Erza!" Crime Sorciere Special operative Angel snickered, calling out to her and approaching the redhead jovially from down the hall to her left, just as she was beginning to peel her coat off. The Knight turned, somewhat on edge, blinking anxiously and meeting her friend's eyes.
"Angel…"
"I can't say I'm surprised to see you, No… Actually, I expected you'd be here much sooner-" The spirit mage cackled.
"I should have been." Erza cursed, under her breath, grumbling. She slid her jacket off, thoughts already racing, and allowed Angel to steer her away, down the entrance corridor and towards the compound proper. "I was out of town, I... I Didn't hear about it until just now."
"S-rank mission?" Angel nodded, sympathetically, but her eyes gleamed; suspicious, Erza twitched, watching the blonde carefully. "Here, let me take that for you- Go right in, He's in his office."
The special forces mage tugged the coat out of Erza's hands, smiling mischievously, and shoved her towards the Guild master's office door, at the top of the Grand Stairwell.
Erza froze, hesitation evident in her features, scrawled all over her face. Faintly red, she cleared her throat, half-lamely, and shifted her weight from one leg to the other, unmoving.
Angel watched her, eyes twinkling devilishly.
"What's the matter, Erza...?" She purred, shoving the requip mage lightly from behind, again. "You're here to talk to Master, right?"
"I... Of course, I'm..." Erza muttered, and the blush darkened on her face as she glanced, awkwardly, down at her toes, before looking, poignantly, away. She wriggled slightly in place, wringing her fingers, awkwardly, trying desperately to settle on what she would say to him, what she would say, when she stepped into his office and confronted him... "I... I just..."
She trailed off, lamely, growing red. Angel cackled, delighted, and Erza looked up again, groaning. "I don't know what to say!"
Angel tapped her chin, sweetly, thoroughly enjoying herself. "What to say...? Why, Didn't you think about that on the way over?" the spirit mage teased, prodding the redhead lightly with one finger. Erza muttered something to herself, under her breath, and wailed quietly, holding her head in both hands, as Angel wrapped one arm around her shoulders. "Then again... What kind of conversation, exactly, are you hoping to have, in there?"
Erza choked on her breath, staring at the office door, frozen in place. Her heartbeat pounded away inside her, as heat continued to crawl up Into her face and breast. The requip mage said nothing, for a moment, stammering lamely, and setting one hand over her heart.
"Do ... Do you think..." She started, whispering anxiously, when the door to Jellal's office cracked open.
Erza nearly shrieked, jumping; startled and flushed, breathless. Angel lunged into action, covering the redhead's mouth with one hand, muffling her voice, while barely managing to avoid bursting into a fit of giggles herself...
Meredy sighed, stepping out of the SpecForce Commander's office, and Erza caught a quick glimpse of him, inside with his back to the door; Jellal, her oldest friend, her...
Somehow, she couldn't finish that thought. Furious heat filled her, surging up Into her breast, and her heart rate spiked. Even just seeing him, catching a glimpse of him... It occurred to her that if she played her cards right, said the right things, he might even be...
He might even confess, by the time she went home, tonight...
Meredy caught Erza's wide eyes, as she stepped out of The office. She blinked.
The Special Forces second-in-command saw the Requip mage, trembling, holding Angel's palm with both hands, in front of her mouth, as Angel still hushed her, muffling her voice, almost cracking up.
Meredy tilted her head at the pair, smiling faintly. Angel set one finger silently to her lips, giggling, and whispered "Shhhh..."
Meredy chuckled, rubbing her cheek, slightly reticent. "You're so lucky he doesn't have his powers right now, or he'd have heard this a mile away..." She whispered back.
Ex-V: Did you have fun? I hope so!
I'll put the next chapter up within the next few days, If you think it's good!
Please, let me know what you think, And I'll be eternally grateful!