Shackles of Yesterday
Seiyuki Narimaru
A/N: Thank you to everyone that reviewed the first chapter and those that followed. This is my first time writing about this particular subject. Just to reiterate, I don't own Fairy Tail.
Chapter Two: Control
Natsu, Gray and Gajeel waited at the train station so they could hurry and make their way to Oshibana Town. Something wasn't right with Jellal. He sounded panicked about something and the guys were hoping they weren't too late. They had asked their boss for the time off as it was an emergency and gave him as much information as possible before the older man shook his head and shooed them away.
"I will send her with you so bring your friend back safely," were his last words to the backs of the trio.
"You got it, Master," Natsu waved.
Natsu kept looking back and forth at the block and train schedule, feeling impatient and he knew why. It had been three years since they last saw Jellal and recent communications didn't seem normal. He contacted them at late hours of the night as if he were trying to be sneaky about his actions. Natsu knew something was up when Jellal said he couldn't see them anymore due to Minerva's feelings and they said nothing except that they would be there if he ever needed them.
"I apologize for being late," a female voice rang. "I got here as soon as I could."
The guys looked up at her and sighed in relief at the one Master sent to be the female muscle and couldn't have been more pleased at the sight of their friend. Her scarlet hair flew around her with the wind and she moved the strands behind her ear. She was the strongest bodyguard Fairy Tail had to offer and they couldn't have been in better hands.
"Thanks for coming to help, Erza." Gray waved.
"Sure," she started. "Master said it looked like you may need female backup. So what is the issue?"
Natsu looked around in caution because if his suspicions were correct, he couldn't be too careful. He motioned for Erza to come closer so that he could whisper the details in her ear. Once he told her everything, he moved away while she processed the information.
"I see," her voice barely a whisper, "Then we don't have any time to waste if it's as serious as you say."
They heard the sound of the train pulling into the station and gathered their belongings. The train ride alone would be about two hours, but this was the earliest one possible. Once they boarded the train, they quickly took their seats and awaited the departure. Natsu looked out of the window and Gray lightly punched his shoulder.
"Don't even think about throwing up, puke brain," he teased.
Natsu glared at the man and raised his fists. He knew what Gray was trying to do and it worked. His motion sickness couldn't be helped, but they sure knew how to turn it against him.
"You wanna fight me!?" Natsu roared. "Bring it! I'll beat you just as bad as I did last time!"
"You didn't beat me! I hit my head on the table!"
"Then fight me again! We'll prove which one's the strongest!"
Gajeel raised his eyebrows and stared at the two men as they argued. This was an everyday occurrence with them even though he wasn't innocent either. He folded his arms and looked out of the window. There was no way he was getting involved in that.
"Gajeel can't even beat me!" Natsu exclaimed.
Gajeel felt the veins in his head wanting to pop at the ridiculous comment. He was simply an innocent bystander until Natsu decided to run his mouth. He turned to face him and pushed his fist out with heated eyes.
"Oh yeah, Pinky?" He jeered. "You think you're real tough huh?!"
Natsu readied his fists and felt the fire inside him raging. He was ready to fight. Gajeel and Gray were also ready they managed to attract a small crowd of people who watched them argue. The men ignored the red-headed woman who slowly cracked her knuckles and stood up in silent fury. This was also why Master had asked her to tag along. She was to reign in these three children.
"Hey!" She roared.
It caught the attention of everyone in the cabin and the three men ignored her while their fists continued to fly. The cabin looked terrified of her and whispers broke out once some recognized who she was.
"It's really her. It's Titania!"
"She's travelling with those guys? I wonder who they are."
Erza stalked towards the men and hit all three in the head. They held their sore spots and turned to the one responsible. The goal was to beat the person, but when they saw Erza in all her fury, they turned as white as ghosts.
"You boys think this is the place to fight do you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Fight me then."
They quickly shook their heads, sat down quietly and glared at each other. The train finally moved and the cabin became quiet again. Erza had switched spots with Natsu and looked out of the window. She hadn't seen Jellal since they were children and she had moved away with her parents. To imagine her childhood crush had been going through this for years hurt her more than she could have imagined. Her thoughts were interrupted by a gagging Natsu and Gajeel. This was going to be a long trip.
After the fight yesterday, Jellal had called his boss to ask for a day off knowing that it was short notice and thank Mavis his request was accepted. He felt emotionally and physically fatigued and couldn't handle another fight. He couldn't figure out what caused the change in Minerva, but he couldn't be a part of it anymore. His inside voice berated him for angering the woman and not understanding what he did wrong, but the other part of him knew he didn't do anything. He was tired of the constant tug of war in his mind and it developed into a migraine. Jellal rose from the sofa and went into the bathroom to grab something for the pain he felt so he could finally relax. He thought about her having his phone and knew he would have to buy a new one. There was no way he would take his phone back after it was in her hands for over 24 hours. She probably bugged it like she did with his last phone. He was just happy that all of his contacts were backed up to his secret email.
He switched the TV on and flipped to the news to see if he saw anything on Mangolia and his attention was grabbed immediately by a familiar looking red-headed woman standing next to a short older man. It looked like they were being interviewed for something.
"Come on down to Fairy Tail," the man yelled. "We have the best entertainment and food in town! Our very own Titania," he motioned to the girl next to him, "will be here signing autographs until she sets off of her next assignment! Come by and see her!"
He had heard of Fairy Tail previously. They were around for quite some time, but not many people knew what really went down behind the popular entertainment establishment. Many of the members were hired help. They had a bulletin board on a restricted floor that allowed its members to take jobs that ranged from helping the community to being hired bodyguards. The assignments had varied lengths of time with some ranging from hours to days, weeks, months or even years. Erza must have come home from an assignment and was taking a break from work. He would have liked to see her again to see if she remembered him.
Jellal watched the woman smile softly before waving to the camera and the commercial faded out and the news came back on. She was still as beautiful as he remembered and her hair flowed behind her as if she were a princess. That scarlet color looked amazing on her and he hoped she had been well. The commercial alone showed her beauty and her smile made his heart warm. In all these years, he had never forgotten Erza Scarlet. Jellal shook his head and tried to forget. He was in a relationship and he was certain he'd never meet that woman again. He switched channels to a comedy and got comfortable enough to fall asleep for the first time in days.
The train horn sounded as its way of informing its travelers that they reached their destination. Erza looked over at her companions and tapped the sleeping Gray so that he would wake up. Natsu and Gajeel were awake the entire time making gurgling noises. As soon the train stopped moving, Natsu and Gajeel sat up normally as if nothing had ever happened. Erza was always amazed at how they quickly they recovered from being motion sick. Now they had arrived, it was time to rescue Jellal.
"We have to go straight to the hotel, right?" Erza asked.
Natsu nodded and pulled up the directions for the hotel on his mobile phone so that they could get there with no trouble. They seemed to have arrived much earlier than he thought and it worked out better for him. Once the directions came up on his phone, he noticed that the hotel was a simple ten minute walk from the station.
"It looks like it's not far from here."
The rest of the group nodded and began the walk to the hotel in silence. Now they had no idea if they were being watched, but no one would speak about why they had arrived until they were in their room. Erza looked ahead and could see the hotel in the distance, but part of her was scared to see him again. The circumstances weren't great.
'If I had stayed, would he be in this situation?'
The group arrived at the Eisenwald Hotel and Natsu motioned for them to wait by the elevator. Erza walked up to the counter with him as she had booked her own room. Once they had the keys, the group boarded the elevator and exchanged room information. The boys' room happened to be two doors down from hers and they agreed that they would meet in that room for any information.
"Erza," Natsu began. "See you in two hours."
His peace didn't seem to last long as he heard the door slam and it jolted him out of his sleep. She tossed his phone on their table and immediately went to the bedroom. He assumed it was to wash the smell of the other man off of her. He took a deep breath and simply thought about the arrival of Natsu, Gray and Gajeel to help him get out of here. He flipped through the channels, ignoring her presence until she called out to him.
"Jellal? Are you hungry?"
He looked up at her and shook his head before taking his phone to read through his work email. As he did not go to work today, he wanted to be sure that he didn't miss anything. He hadn't received any new email and went to his personal email account that he knew about. There was an email from Gray that was already opened, but he hadn't opened it. She went through his email, but for what? There was nothing there to read except for computer deals and the occasional job rejection. He opened the email and saw that it had been an invite to Natsu's party. It looked like it had been a group email that he, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Levy and Lucy had been a part of. He closed the email and put his phone down. He felt Minerva's eyes on him and she narrowed them when he wouldn't look at her.
"Any important emails?" she asked, already knowing about the birthday invite that was sent yesterday.
"Just one for Natsu's birthday," he responded. He would be accepting the invite when he met with Natsu and the others tomorrow.
He had hoped the guys made it to town safely, but there was no way he could check his other email without her knowing. He'd never check it on the phone she gave back to him and would now need to get a new one because he had no idea what she did with it. Eventually he would have to tell his boss that he could no longer work for him. He would be leaving everything behind and start a new life with the people he'd always known. It would be the hardest thing he had to do, but it was something he needed to do.
"I thought I told you not to contact them anymore," she said slowly. "We agreed that they were rude and had no respect for our relationship."
He looked at her and agreed with her statement, but silently seethed at her words. They didn't agree on anything. She threatened him with killing herself like she always did.
"I didn't contact them," he gritted out. "They contacted me and you opened the email."
He regretted the words as soon as they came out and felt the stinging sensation of her right hand against his face. He was already sick of her and knowing he could be getting out made him want to stand up for himself.
"Watch it," she smirked. "You don't want to make me upset, Jellal."
He rubbed the side of his face and walked past her to the kitchen for some ice to help the sting. She glared and followed him into the kitchen, watching his every move. She had rage emanating from every pore in her body and she couldn't believe he was attempting to stand up to her.
"Who else are you sleeping with besides Lucy? Levy? Juvia?"
Jellal threw his hands up and walked away from her, trying to gather distance between them. He knew exactly where this was going to go. Minerva was the queen of emotional blackmail and abuse and she knew it. Talking to her was like talking to a brick wall. He simply learned to let her talk and not say anything because she would only turn it against him.
"Does it matter what I say, Minerva? You'll twist my words into what you want. You've seen the messages and the emails, yet you still ask the same stupid questions."
He turned his back to her and sat on the sofa again. The migraine was coming back and he had wished Magnolia wasn't so far away. He was trapped for another night. He wanted her to go to where ever she just came from.
"Minerva, all you do is come home, fight and go back out," he said softly. "Why?"
"Jellal, I've been nothing but good to you. Why can't you ever do what I say? Even with the chores around here, you don't do them right! It's not hard to clean up! You can't do anything right!"
Her words cut him worse than any knife could. He worked odd hours and came home to deal with her and do housework. She had no job and did absolutely nothing.
"You can't live without me, Jellal. You think you can, but I know you can't. You have nothing here and no one will take you in."
It hurt, but he knew she was right. No matter how hard he tried, she would always find something wrong with what he did. No one else would love someone like him. All he had was Minerva. He walked away from her and into the bedroom, just wanting alone time with his thoughts. She absolutely shattered any resolve he had and she knew it.
Minerva watched him walk away and laughed inwardly at his helplessness. She snatched his phone off of the table and popped the back of it off to make sure her tracker was still in place underneath his SIM card. All looked well and she put the phone back together and used her own phone to test the signal. It worked perfectly. She went into the room with her eyes watering and handed him the phone.
"I'm sorry about earlier, Jellal. I don't know what it is about you, but it makes me scared to lose you."
She hugged him from behind and kissed the back of his neck. He nearly shuddered in disgust at the feel of her lips on him. She tried to unbutton his shirt and he stopped her. There was no way he could have sex with her after what happened today. She noticed his hesitation and bit his shoulder. He bit his lip in pain and braced himself for what was going to happen next.
"Why don't you want me?" She asked from behind him.
"Minerva, you struck me. How could you honestly think I'd be in the mood to have sex with you?"
He turned his head to look at her and she sat back as if she had been slapped in the face. She stood up and unbuttoned her shirt, wanting him to keep looking at her.
"Oh, Jellal," she whispered. "It was just a little tap. I can't really hurt you. I'm a woman."
He turned his head away from her and she walked around the bed to face him. Her eyes echoed her silent wrath and she pushed him back on the bed and straddled his waist. She smiled and touched the mark on his face from when she slapped him.
"Do not reject me, Jellal. Can't you see I love you?"
He turned his head to the side and she forcefully grabbed his chin to make him look her in the eye. Her nails dug into his skin and he winced, trying to force his face out of her hands without hurting her. She grew tired of him struggling and punched him in the stomach to get him to stop. He coughed and she took that moment for shove her tongue down his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block her out. Minerva wanted his eyes on her and she sat up in anger. She punched him in the face and forced her mouth back on his. Jellal forced his eyes open from the pain he felt in his jaw and fought the urge to bite down on her tongue. Her taste was absolutely repulsive.
A/N: You don't have to hate me much longer. I promise he'll be free. Tell me what you think!