Chapter 3: Suspicion Between Friends

...

Erza couldn't believe her eyes. After 10 long years to the day of fruitless searching and dead ends, her childhood friend had miraculously reappeared almost like magic. And it was highly suspicious. The blue-haired man looked in good health. There were no signs at all that he had been harmed in any way, shape, or form.

Time between the two seemed to freeze until Simon and Kagura strolled up the porch steps.

"Erza, why'd you take off like that?" Kagura asked, impatiently and with a hint of annoyance tracing her voice, "Is something wrong?"

Erza didn't respond. Her focus was entirely on Jellal. There was something off with her old friend. Despite the relieved smile that he sported, there was something amiss in his gold eyes. They seemed less lively since they last met. Erza finally found the strength to walk up to him, but she never once took her gaze from him. Mostly out of fear that the moment she looked away he would disappear again and this time it would be forever. The thought of loosing him again made tears prick at her eyes.

Jellal's smile widened when she finally stood in front of him. "Erza-"

Then she interrupted him with the most unexpected thing. She slapped him. The collective gasps of shock from her friends didn't couture her from Jellal's miffed expression. Gently his fingers touched the angry red handprint that was slowly appearing on his cheek.

"How could you?" she asked shakily, "HOW COULD YOU DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT WITHOUT A WORD!?"

Jellal stared wide-eyed back at the scarlet-haired woman, the spell book slipping from his hands and thudding to the dust-laydened floor. His expression turned grim and he avoided Erza's cold gaze.

"Do you have any idea how worried we all were for you? It wasn't just me." Erza said, tears finally spilling from her eyes, "Simon, Kagura, the whole village was worried about you. Where were you?"

"Erza, it's a long story." he said quietly, still not looking at her.

Erza promptly sat on the old sofa and crossed her arms over her armor. "I'm not going anywhere until I get an explanation for your disappearance Jellal." she stated firmly.

"Um...should we just leave you?" Simon asked, tentatively.

Kagura guided her older brother out of the house and gave Erza a brief nod before closing the door. The minute the two siblings lift it felt as if a breath Erza didn't know she was holding was released. Her gaze traveled back to Jellal. Her install assumptions were correct. Her childhood best friend certainly did grow up to be a very handsome man. Quickly she dismissed the thought and focused more on maintaining her stone faced expression.

"Well? Where were you Jellal?" she asked impatiently.

"10 years ago, a group of people who worshiped the Black Wizard came to this house." he started, "They requested that my guardian turn me over to them in order to assist them in a scheme to revive Zeref."

Erza's expression remained neutral, but her mind was reeling harder then it was a few minutes ago. What had Zeref fanatics wanted with Jellal?

"Naturally, she refused to hand me over and put up a fight. She told me to run while she held them off. I did, but two of the fanatics pursued me to what was my bedroom where I managed to escape through the window and into the bushes then sprinted off into the woods."

Jellal paused. "What happened to her anyway? My guardian."

Erza cringed at the memory and quietly spoke. "She was brutally murdered. Two months after your disappearance I came here to look for you and found her dead in her bedroom."

Jellal's expression sank momentarily before he clutched his hand. "That's horrible. How could they do that to such a kind-hearted woman?"

She shock her head sadly. "I do not know, maybe they're fanaticism blinded them to right and wrong. Now continue."

"The fanatic group pursued me for about two years before they finally managed to catch me. They took me to a structure they were constructing in the middle of the ocean called the R-system. Its purpose is to resurrect someone from the dead."

Erza's eyes widened, "But why did they want you?"

"They believed that I was powerful enough to act as a sacrifice to bring back Zeref once I was trained properly and the R-system was completed." he admitted, "For the next 7 years they trained me in Heavenly Body Magic while construction of the R-system continued." he buried his hands in his hair, "I'd never seen so many children forced into labor. They were treated so poorly too, of course even as their beloved sacrifice I wasn't treated any better. Any attempts I made to escape was met with brutal punishment."

Erza resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. He didn't look like he had been brutally beaten. In fact he looked very healthy and strong. Jellal was acting very suspicious. Over the course of the whole story, he had never once mentioned the necklace that matched her's. The necklace that had given her the nickname: "Titania, Queen of the Fairies". Before he disappeared, he wore that necklace with great pride but now he seemed to have completely forgotten about it.

Her thoughts of suspicion were interrupted when Jellal resumed his story.

"Then six months ago an effort made by a small group of children to escape stumbled across the ceil I was held in. I took the opportunity to escape with them. But it went wrong and we were all caught. I couldn't take it anymore and I lashed out with my magic. I managed to steal a boat and get away, but the others weren't so lucky. It'll be a miracle if they're still alive. After I made it to shore I had wandered for another year before I made it back here."

Jellal finished his story and looked at Erza from the corner of his eye, obviously waiting for her response. But Erza wasn't sure how to respond to his story, it was horrible to believe that he had been put through that much pain. She almost felt bad for slapping him earlier. Almost. Something felt off about his story that Erza couldn't place.

Finally Erza pulled Jellal's necklace out from under her armor and unclasped it.

"Do you remember this necklace?" she asked, holding it for him to see.

His eyes skimmed over the silver necklace with mild interest. Erza's suspicion rose to an uncomfortably high level. She didn't want to believe that something was wrong with her best friend. She wanted to be happy that he had returned to her alive, but his reaction to the necklace concerned her.

"That's the necklace that matched the one I gave you for your 8th birthday." he said, smiling faintly, "I thought I lost it while I was running."

"I found it in your room when I looked for you. I hadn't let it out of my sight since." Erza smiled softly placing it in his hand, "I thought you forgot about it since you never mentioned it in your story."

Jellal chuckled a little as he turned the warm metal in his hand. "I didn't mention it because I was ashamed to think I had lost something so precious."

Erza scowled a little. If the necklace was so precious to him then why did he regard it with such a lack of interest? Admittedly, her suspicion waned but didn't disappear. Jellal slipped the necklace in the pocket of his overcoat and smiled faintly at Erza who smiled back and hugged him.

"I'm glad you're back. I was beginning to think that I'd never see you again." she admitted, sobbing slightly.

"And I was beginning to think that I'd never see you again either." Jellal said hugging her back, "But there's still something that needs to be taken care of."

"The R-system." Erza said darkly.

"Exactly. You're the only person I can think of that can help me destroy it."

"Me? Why not alert the Council?" she asked.

"The Council can only do so much, alerting them will help but it won't be enough. Someone needs to go there and take care of it directly." Jellal said, "It's the only way to insure that Zeref doesn't rise again."

"..."

"Will you help me Erza? You're the person I trust most and is the most qualified for this."

Erza was silent for a moment. Something about this seemed off, but the threat that the most evil wizard in the history of magic could be resurrected is too big to ignore.

"Okay. I will accompany you on your journey Jellal. Together we will destroy the R-system."