Note: Fairy Tail was created by Hiro Mashima and the anime is done by the studios A-1 Pictures, Statelight, Bridge, and CloverWorks.

Erza Scarlet's team often relied on her, to be the responsible, heroic, determined, and brave leader. This was a task, that Erza claimed to be ready for and she often lived up to her reputation, to by being the best leader and strongest warrior, that the guild had ever laid eyes on. Erza was usually focused and felt like she had everything under control. However, there was one person, who knew how to make Erza become shy and a little condident, named Jellal. Jellal was a former villain, who Erza was friends with, during her childhood years. During the time Erza and Jellal were on opposites sides of the law, their feelings for one another weren't hard, to figure out. Despite their differences, they had a crush on each other and after Jellal stopped being evil and joined the guild, Erza's feelings for him were more clear and easy to spot, than ever before.

One day, Erza was having a meeting with her friends, Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel, and Gray Fullbuster, at the guild. Although Erza's team was very successful, when it came to fighting bad guys and helping others, it became apparent, that there were a few problems. Lucy suffered, from a lack of confidence and letting her emotions get in the way, Gray often got into fights with friendly rivals, rather than focusing on fighting the real villains, but Natsu's immaturity and desire, to rush into a fight without thinking, often put his life and the team in danger. Erza cared about her teammates and viewed them as friends. However, she wasn't happy, about her friends' flaws. She wasn't the type of person, who would make fun of them. Instead, she wanted to give them helpful advice. Erza looked at her friends, while saying, "There needs to be some changes, in order for this group to shine."

Lucy asked, "What kind of changes are you talking about?"

Erza looked at her, while saying, "You need to work on your confidence."

Lucy asked, "What do you mean?"

Erza answered, "You often don't think you're as helpful or useful, as you actually are. If you don't start believing in yourself, you're going to negatively affect the team, rather than benefit it."

Lucy felt unsure of herself, while putting her over her face and saying, "You're probably right about that, Erza. I wanna be a more useful team member, but I'm really not. I don't have the same powers and abilities, that the rest of you guys do. I'm not much of anything, compared to the rest of the team." Natsu nodded in agreement, so Gray angrily nudged him.

Erza lifted Lucy's chin, while saying, "It's this type of behavior, that's led to you not living up to your full potential."

Lucy looked uneasy, while saying, "I'm not sure if I have much potential, to be honest."

Erza confidently replied, "You have a lot of potential, Lucy. You have the heart and intelligence, that my team needs. You're a great addition, that we all need." Gray nodded in agreement, while Natsu put hot sauce in Gray's water.

Erza looked at Gray and said, "You also have stuff to work on, Gray."

Gray replied, "No disrespect to your judgment, but I think I've got everything under control."

Erza said, "You need to work on your anger problems."

Gray replied, "I don't think I need to."

Erza said, "You often get into fight with the wrong people, including Natsu, rather than our enemies."

Gray started drinking his water, which was covered in hot sauce. After his mouth felt painfully warm, he started freezing Natsu's shoulder. Natsu had an amused look on his face, while saying, "Gray has cool powers, but his personality is a hot mess."

Gray wanted to freeze Natsu, but Erza stepped in and said, "Cut that out, Gray. You need to be showing respect to your teammates, even if they act immature."

Gray looked guilty, while saying, "I'm sorry about that."

Erza looked over at Natsu, who was putting Gray's drink next to a heater. She gave Natsu a disapproving look, while saying, "Your immature behavior needs to stop."

Natsu replied, "Come on, Erza. I can't change my natural personality."

Erza responded, "That's fair, but you need to tone down your antics."

Lucy, Natsu, and Gray were never fond of hearing their problems be pointed out, but they figured it was for the best. If they didn't listen to Erza's advice, they knew things would get rough. While thinking about her own problems, a thought popped into Lucy's mind. She started wondering if Erza had problems, that she needed to work on. Lucy raised her hand in the air.

Erza asked, "What's on your mind?"

Lucy asked, "Do you have any problems, that you need to work on?"

Erza put her hand on her chin and thought about it. After a moment of thinking, she said, "I can't think of anything, that I'd need to work on."

Gray replied, "I think Erza needs to work on the temperature of our table, at the guild. She should have Makarov lower the temperature. It's been getting too warm."

Natsu shook his head and responded, "It's been too cold, not too warm. Erza should have Makarov change the temperature, to a hundred."

Natsu and Gray argued about the temperatures, before Erza stepped in and said, "Cut it out. Our team handles important missions, so we must be focusing on important matters. We can't start arguing, because of petty nonsense."

A moment later, Jellal stepped into the guild. He started walking around, before approaching Erza. Jellal tapped Erza's shoulder and said, "Hi."

Erza was always prepared for someone, who wanted to battle, so she started getting her sword ready. However, she turned around and realized it was Jellal, so she put the sword done. Her calm, regal presence started becoming a little more shy, because of Jellal being around. She tried to retain her braveness and reputation, by having a stern look on her face and saying, "Hi Jellal. It's nice to see you today, my ally." She started shaking his hand.

Jellal replied, "No offense, but I was hoping for a more personal greeting, than that." Erza's friends assumed Jellal was referring to a kiss, so they started chuckling.

Erza looked back at Jellal and asked, "Can I help you with something?"

Jellal answered, "I was hoping you'd go to lunch with me. Because of all the guild missions, we haven't had a lot of personal time. We have a lot, that we should be catching up on."

Erza replied, "Well, making sure my friends have learned their lessons is most important."

Lucy calmly responded, "You've told us what we need to work on, so we're going to start putting more stock in your trust and we're going to put more effort in our improvement."

Erza smiled and replied, "I'm glad to hear that." She looked back at Jellal and said, "It appears I'll be able to have lunch with you, after all."

Jellal tried to avoid looking excited, to avoid looking dorky, so he casually replied, "I'm glad to hear that."

Erza was still in her warrior uniform and looked like she wanted to have a battle, rather than a date. Because of that, she figured she should freshen up. She said, "Please excuse me. I need to powder my nose." She started walking away.

Jellal about awkward, about being around Erza's friends, without Erza around. Since Jellal used to be enemies with him, he doubted they held him in high regards. He stood around, while feeling a little uncomfortable.

Lucy said, "You should sit down."

Jellal replied, "Okay then." Jellal sat down. A waitress came by and gave him a drink. Before he got a chance to drink it, Natsu put hot sauce in it. Jellal grabbed the drink and started drinking it, before getting overheated.

Gray gave Natsu a disapproving look, while saying, "You did another prank, didn't you?"

Natsu grinned and said, "I sure did."

Lucy sternly replied, "You should be treating Jellal with more respect, Natsu."

Natsu whined, "Why should I do that? Jellal's used to be a member of her rouges gallery. He's acted like a selfish jerk, so he doesn't deserve any of my respect."

Lucy said, "Jellal's changed, so we deserved to treat him, with an open mind."

Gray said, "Frankly, Natsu doesn't have much of a mind."

Juvia walked by and overheard him. Although Juvia had a crush on him, she didn't approve of Gray calling Natsu mindless. She angrily nudged him and said, "You need to work on your manners."

Jellal observed the situation, before saying, "It seems, that the women are the responsible and respectful ones, on Erza's team. Nobody's perfect, but it seems like it's the guys, that need the improvements." Natsu and Gray angrily stared at Jellal and were considering having a fight with him. Thankfully, Lucy and Juvia were smart to know, what was on Natsu and Gray's sneaky minds. Because of that, Lucy ordered them to exit the table and step outside, so they could get some fresh air. Gray angrily sighed and Natsu gritted his teeth, before heading out.

Lucy and Juvia sat down and faced Jellal. Lucy said, "I'm sorry, that my friends were acting immature."

Jellal calmly replied, "It's not a big deal."

Juvia looked at Jellal, while saying, "I heard about you used to be quite the villain. In fact, I think I saw you causing some mayhem, during some of my battles. You must of matured and learned a lot, in recent months."

Jellal replied, "Yeah, but I owe most of my success, to Erza. She inspired me, that being a petty thief was a waste of time. I think she's the person, that's in this guild, that trusts and respects me."

Lucy said, "I trust you, Jellal. I know you're not perfect, but you've made improvements and as time goes on, I think you're going to make further changes."

Juvia replied, "Believe it or not, I agree with Lucy."

Jellal felt relieved, that he wasn't as mistrusted around the guild, as he thought he was. He had a genuine smile on his face, while saying, "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Meanwhile, Erza was in the restroom. She brushed her hair, so it would look nicer. She put on some makeup and took some breath mints. After making herself look less fierce, she stepped out and returned to Jellal. She looked at him and noticed that Natsu and Gray weren't at the table. She looked at Jellal and asked, "What's going on?"

Jellal casually answered, "I'm just hanging out with my girlfriends."

An intense amount of anger started flowing through Erza, because of what Jellal said. Jellal worded himself poorly and made it sound like he was dating both Lucy and Juvia, but that wasn't the case. He cared about both of them, but in a friendship way. However, because of the poor way he worded himself, Erza thought Jellal was cheating on him, with two different women. Although Erza disapproved of Gray's anger problems, she started having her own anger problems. Erza angrily said, "How dare you date my friends, while you're in a relationship with me, you monster! One secret girlfriend is bad enough, but you added a second person, to cheat on me with. That's truly scummy." Jellal was hoping he'd get a chance, to explain the situation, but Erza wasn't providing him with that. Instead, she punched him through a wall. Lucy and Juvia both look concerned about Jellal, while he crashed and fell outside.

Jellal had gotten into lots of intense fights, so he wasn't in that much pain. However, he was scared of whatever acts of action, that Erza was planning on doing. Erza stepped outside, while looking ticked off. Jellal stuck his arms in the air and said, "I think we should talk things over, instead of having a battle."

Erza scowled at Jellal, while saying, "You acted like a ruthless scumbag, so you don't deserve the courtesy, of trying to explain your reasoning." She started running after Jellal. Jellal was getting scared, so he tried to run away. He started running across the city, while Erza charged after him. Jellal jumped around and tried to avoid knocking people and stuff to the ground. Erza kept chasing after him.

After a few minutes of running, Jellal felt so tired, that he felt like he couldn't run. Erza approached him, while saying, "You've disappointed me, in the past. There were several times, where I trusted you and I wanted you to change, but you didn't. I was hoping you' had learned, to leave that lifestyle behind, but instead of growing up and doing the right thing, you cheated on me." She had an offended look on her face, while saying, "I can't believe you'd do that, after how much my feelings have grown." Her anger started turning into sadness, while a tear escaped her eye.

Jellal walked closer to her and wiped the tear away. He said, "Erza, I didn't cheat on you. Lucy and Juvia have become my friends, which I was trying to tell you, but I didn't word myself well."

A few minutes later, Lucy and Juvia walked to Erza and told her the truth, about how they were just friends with Erza. Erza felt ashamed of herself, for her overly-judgmental behavior and for trying to punish Jellal, for something he didn't do. She looked at Lucy and Juvia and said, "I'm sorry, my friends. You're both trustworthy, good friends, so I should of known you'd help Jellal cheat on me." She paused and said, "Lucy, the question you had, about whether I have things I should work on, is valid. I need to work on my trust and my ability, to hear people out."

Lucy put her hand on Erza's shoulder, while saying, "We all need to make improvements, which I think we'll do, as long as we keep supporting one another." Erza nodded and gave Lucy and Juvia a hug.

After Lucy and Juvia walked away, Erza faced Jellal, while feeling a lot of guilt. She said, "I owe you the biggest apology, Jellal. I should of given you the time, to explain yourself. Instead, I acted reckless and rude."

Jellal smiled and replied, "It's okay, Erza. I did a lot of criminal acts and didn't receive as intense of punishments, as I deserved. Because of that, I deserved to be chased around."

Erza said, "You used to be a scoundrel, but you've become something special. You've gone back, to being the sweet guy, I've always had a soft spot for."

Jellal noticed how jealous Erza got, from the thought of him dating anybody else. Jellal said, "If I may ask such a bold question, your feelings for me have seem to grown, have they?"

Erza shyly answered, "You could say that."

Jellal said, "I'm positive, that my feelings have grown."

Erza couldn't help feeling excited, while asking, "Really?"

Jellal answered, "I love you so much, Erza. If you had actually beaten me up, I'd still be in love with you."

Erza smiled and replied, "I'm glad you feel that way, because the only, that's stronger than my strength, is my love for you." Erza kissed him. She knew she had a lot to work on, but her heart couldn't feel more flawless.