Hi again! I'm aiming to update every week - so far so good! Tell me what you think in the comments, or if you have any predictions about the story ahead!
Enjoy the chapter, I thought I'd add in a bit of jealousy for this one - can't make it too easy for Jerza now can we ;)
At the edge of the forest near Magnolia, a man with velvet blue hair stood looking at the sunset. His brows were furrowed and he looked somewhat uneasy.
A young girl of short stature with long pink hair, and light green eyes walked towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"What are you so worried about Jellal? The mission is perfectly safe, bringing the whole group might even be overkill when you stop to think about it." Meredy said in an irritated voice as she rolled her eyes. She had seen Jellal with that same face all week, and she was almost certain the mission wasn't the reason for his worry.
"I'm not so sure…. I'm just not very good with these things you know? Besides, remember what happened last time it was just the two of us." Jellal said as he turned to look at Meredy, giving her a pointed look. When Meredy had joined the group, he wasn't too sure of what her true intentions were but so far, she had proven to be exceptionally helpful.
"Oh don't worry, I don't think any of us will forget that sudden announcement about your fiancé." She smiled as she saw his expression turn sheepish.
Meredy bit her lip as she looked at Jellal standing in the orange sunlight. His cheeks looking like they've been set on fire as the wind gently tousled his hair. They had been on countless missions together and she knew that Jellal always prioritised their work over everything else, but looking at him now she couldn't help but wonder…
"Look, I'll see how it goes this time ok…. Could you please make sure none of the others are listening in this time?" Jellal replied, trying to put an end to any further teasing.
"Alright I'll try to stop them, no promises though." Meredy chuckled as she walked back to where they had made camp.
Not too far from there stood a nervous Erza standing behind a rather large tree. Why am I even standing here? Jellal had asked her to come by today because he had something important to tell her – mentioning nothing else other than that.
She had noticed Jellal standing by the edge of the forest with Meredy for some reason she panicked and hid behind a tree. I hope he doesn't think I was spying on him…
She also happened to see the discussion they had, and really wished she had amazing hearing like Natsu. She saw Meredy talking to Jellal, both looking at each other as Meredy smiled and Jellal started to blush.
I was almost certain when he was talking about his fiancé, he wasn't being serious. Looking at them now she began to have some doubts. Maybe I'm just overthinking this…
She felt like her heart was on fire as she became increasingly nervous.
"Erza! There you are." Jellal was now standing right in front of Erza, mere inches from her face.
Panicking, Erza jumped to the side and started stuttering, "Wha…What are you doing here Jellal?" She was sure Jellal was still standing where she last saw him by the edge of the forest, looking back in that direction as though she didn't believe her eyes.
"That's my line. We decided to meet at the edge of the forest, didn't we?" Jellal chuckled as he saw Erza's surprised face. She looks beautiful as always, he though, sighing to himself.
"W..Well yeah I was just …. Well that's not important now anyways! What was it you wanted to tell me?" Erza said, praying Jellal didn't realise she was spying on him. Well not spying, that sounds more scandalous… maybe I could say I was scouting the area? No… that doesn't sound believable…
"Umm well, I was wondering if maybe you were free for the next few weeks?" Jellal felt nervous, not that he was proposing or anything but when it came to Erza he somehow always thought things might go wrong. The last thing he wanted was to upset her over something, especially after what she had to go through in the past. Especially after what I did in the past.
His mind flashed back to when they were children, as it often does from time to time, the Tower of Heaven looming above them. Many times, he felt like he was still carrying the weight of that tower on his shoulders.
"Well, there's still a great deal of work to be done rebuilding the town… Master might need me to handle things for a while at the guild if he's going to the Wizard Saint's meeting. Not to mention I'm the only one who can seem to pull Natsu and Gray apart before they destroy the guild again." Erza's words dragged Jellal back from his thoughts.
"Oh actually, you might want to bring Natsu along on this one. Lucy as well actually." Jellal had thought a great deal about the mission and who would be best to bring along.
"What do you mean, is this another job request? Why would we need to bring Natsu and Lucy to this anyways?" Erza knew the work Jellal does can get very dangerous, and whilst she knew Natsu would be probably be fine, Lucy didn't seem like she could manage anything like that the way things have been going.
"Oh, right I should tell you more about the mission before you decide." Jellal inwardly felt like hitting his head against the tree. He should have explained what the mission was first! I really can't think as straight when she's around.
"We got a rather strange report from Shirotsume saying that there's some ancient ruins that's become active recently – whatever that mean – and those ruins were once an ancient celestial temple. I was thinking there could be a chance we could get information about a golden celestial key there, and figure out why it became active to suddenly." Jellal explained what he had heard.
Normally it would seem like a rumour of some sort but given the timing he thought it was worth looking into. And there's also that…. But I really do hope that part's just a rumour.
"But wouldn't this just be a normal mission, maybe closer to S class than most, but still not serious enough for Crime Sorcière to get involved." Erza looked sceptical.
"Well in terms of dark magic, that's what we think 'awakened' the ruins - or might have anyways. The fact that it's also a celestial temple made me wonder if it had some useful information that you guys could use." Jellal studied Erza's face carefully, she still looked concerned.
"I think it can be a good opportunity to find out some more information... You've been worried about Lucy a lot, haven't you?" Jellal added in a soft voice.
"I'm just not sure she's ready for a mission just yet… I'll have to ask her and Natsu I suppose. If they can't make it, I would still like to go - if it's ok with you." Erza said as she looked up at Jellal. Erza thought about how sad Lucy looked recently. If it would help find her Aquarius key then it was definitely worth it.
"I look forward to it." Jellal said with a gentle smile on his face.
The sun was just about to disappear past the horizon, the fading light shining on both of them. Their scarlet red and velvet blue hair seemed to stand out more so than usual, like fire and ice. Both extremes were incredibly powerful. Perhaps that is why it suited them so well.
The next day came with a bright cloudless sky, it was a warm summer day with a gentle breeze passing by. On a hill stood a small but cosy looking cottage – yet unlike the serene woods surrounding it there was furious yelling coming from inside.
"AHHH WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" Natsu had been so worried about Lucy that he had finally done the unthinkable.
When Natsu had asked Master Makarov, he simply stared at him. After realising Natsu wasn't joking Master's jaw fell to the ground, his eyes turned to saucers and he looked visibly shaken. When he consulted Levy, she looked very worried, even checking his forehead to make sure he didn't have a fever. After this as he walked into another room in the guild, everyone's eyes were on his back in disbelief.
Yes, believe it or not, Natsu Dragneel was reading a book. Or trying to at least.
"I just don't get it! What is all this about summoning and key handling! Lucy makes it look like a piece of cake!" Natsu stared at the book is disbelief.
"Hey Natsu, wasn't that the beginner's book?" Happy flew from right to left, finding Natsu's situation hilarious. He knew Natsu disliked reading but despite slow progress, he had indeed finished almost half the book.
"Yeah well the guild library didn't have that many books on celestial magic anyways!" Natsu eyed the other book he had also picked up from the guild library. The cover showed a picture of the 12 golden keys and the title read 'The Ancient Zodiac'. He had planned to quickly read the first book and move on to that one but as things were going now it would take him another week. I have to speed this up somehow…
"Well maybe it's just this book that's confusing – Let me have a look at that one." Natsu picked up 'The Ancient Zodiac', which released a cloud of dust as he opened it.
"Natsu are you sure you know what you're doing?" Happy looked at the old book that was five times the size of the beginner book. All the pages were sprawled with messy handwriting, and had turned almost brown in colour from age. Natsu was concentrating hard as he read the still dusty pages, referring back to the first book from time to time.
Happy became increasingly tired of watching in silence and was now also quite hungry. Nastu was still occupied in reading (he was actually surprised by his level of concentration) and so he decided to go to the guild for some fish.
Erza walked into the guild hall, deciding to speak with master so she could get his opinion on the matter. Jellal had given her the mission details and left for Shirotsume ahead of them to do some scouting. Inwardly Erza felt like he was hiding something – even after he explained why he wanted to go on the mission, it didn't seem like something Crime Sorcière would get involved in. The work they do is with serious threats regarding dark magic, and not to mention the work is far too dangerous for any average guild to do….
"Erza! I made some strawberry cake with Mirajane. Would you like to try some?" Wendy stood in front of Erza with a small plate containing a delicately iced strawberry cake, with one strawberry placed on top.
"Well I don't see why not." Erza's mouth began to water as she saw her favourite cake in front of her.
Mirajane cut the small cake into several pieces, making sure Erza got the one with the strawberry on top.
"Here you go Erza, you know Wendy even got you fresh strawberries from the next town over for this cake!" Mirajane smiled as she saw Erza's face light up.
"Thanks Wendy, I'm sure this will taste even better because of your efforts!" Erza could barely hold her excitement.
"It was nothing really, I finished a mission there anyways and picking the strawberries was really fun." Wendy replied with a bright smile.
Erza took a bite of the cake, the icing melting in her mouth. The strawberry was very fresh, it's sweet and slightly sour taste complementing the icing well.
"Did you like it?" Wendy was looking at Erza the whole time with eager excitement.
"Of course, I loved it. Dare I say it was one of the best strawberry cakes I've ever had." Erza's tone was soft as she looked at Wendy. She had grown a great deal over the last battle but she worried about her. After all, Wendy was only 13.
Wendy gave a satisfying nod to Erza's reply before taking a slice for herself and Carla.
After some thought, she decided to ask Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy to come along. Bringing Wendy would be very risky, especially if this turned out to be a dangerous mission.
In fact, I should do some more research so I know more about the mission before going to master. Erza thought as she walked up to the second floor of the guild to look in the archives, perhaps it would have more details of the celestial temple. After closing the door of the dimly lit room, she heard a small thud as a few scrolls fell to the ground.
"Who's there! Show yourself!" She commanded, walking towards the sound.