But as Jellal watched them from boughs of the great tree, he noticed something that shocked him quite a bit. While Erza was always a strong willed woman, she was so smiley and laid back around Julius that Jellal found it difficult to think she could smile so much. She seemed to be constantly giggling at every one liner and quip Julius made, and with her mounting happiness, so too did Jellal's nervousness grow. Sure, she was incredibly happy and this Julius guy made her feel amazing, but something about him just wasn't right. He seemed familiar, implacably familiar. Jellal was sure he knew him, and he quickly thought about every enemy of Fairy Tail he knew about, sure that Julius was some kind of spy or assassin, but to his surprise, no knowledge consoled him. He might have just been a familiar face.

"Mister, are you stuck up there?"

Jellal, stunned by the loud call, almost fell from the tree to turn and look down at the ground directly beneath him, where the leaves did not obscure him from passersby who happened to look up. There, at the base of the tree, was a little girl. Like Erza, she had red hair, though it was several shades darker, and her eyes were an intense green color, much like the leaves of the tree Jellal was sitting in. In order to stop the child from blowing his cover, Jellal fell from the tree and landed next to the girl, ducking behind the tree so that he was invisible to Erza and Julius.

"I'm...uh...undercover," Jellal said, "I'm observing a possible situation."

"Hey, do you wanna play hide and seek," the girl asked, completely ignoring Jellal's words.

Seeing her other friends run up to her, Jellal smiled. These children were so carefree it was hard not to feel jovial when he was around them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't right now," the hooded mage said quietly, peeking around the tree to make sure his objective had not moved.

"Awww, pwetty pwease?"

Jellal was enticed once more by the offer, and though he couldn't see it, the girl twisted a ring upon her finger behind her back. Upon the ring was a heart shaped insignia, a charm spell that would make most people blindly obey. When coupled with the effects of a young girl with an innocent smile, the effects were irresistible. Jellal's eyes went dull, and his face slackened for a moment before he smiled dimly and nodded.

"Ok," he said finally, "let's play hide and seek… but just one game."

And he was led off by the merry troop of children, whose pockets all jingled rather joyfully as they led him away from the square. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw this and smiled, knowing that she was right to pay the children to keep an eye out for Jellal, and lead him away from the date should they find him.

"All according to plan," she said with a smug grin, taking another sip of her third cup of coffee.

Lucy couldn't help but smile at how well her plans were coming into effect. The date was going smoothly, Jellal was out of the way, Erza hadn't made any signs of knowing the truth behind it all, and Julius was doing a superb job of talking his way into Erza's heart. Then again, he'd been properly trained by a certain blonde haired celestial wizard.

"So, Julius, what do you do for work," Erza asked politely.

"Uh…"

Julius seemed to fumble the question and he smiled and blushed, his eyes flickering to Lucy for a fraction of a second, who met his gaze behind Erza's back and frowned at him. They had carefully constructed the backstory and rehearsed it so that this kind of slip up didn't happen.

"I'm a wizard, actually, yeah, an air wizard. I do, y'know, wind and stuff," Julius said, quickly recovering his story.

"Oh, a wind wizard, huh? That's cool, I've met a few before, what sort of wind magic do you use?"

"Well, um, just basic wind magic, breezes, gales, stuff like that. I don't do too much of it though, it's really exhausting for me… I'm not as strong as the Fairy Tail wizards!"

"I'm sure you're being modest," Erza said, "I'd love to see some of your magic."

"I would demonstrate for you, but I was just on a job, so my magic energy is a bit low at the moment," Julius said, looking nervous.

As nervous as he looked, Lucy felt a million times so. That aspect of their plan was a little ill prepared, as their only wind wizard friend was currently occupied and would not be back in town for at least a day.

"That's fine, I don't want to push your limits… what guild are you with?"

"I'm actually not with a guild," Julius said casually, "I do freelance wizard work. It doesn't pay quite as much as a guild wizard and it can be tedious working alone, but I get by."

"That's very interesting," Erza said reaching out and gently laying her hand upon Julius', "go on, I want to hear more."

The blonde haired wind mage immediately felt somewhat uncomfortable. He hid it well, but he actually knew Erza Scarlet quite well, and being that intimate with her made him feel rather unsure of himself. Something of his feelings must have boiled over onto his features though, because Erza grinned and blushed at him.

"I apologize for my forwardness," Erza said quietly, "but I feel as though I know you so well, it's like I've known you for years…"

"Well, uh, I am a very familiar face," Julius said, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling lamely.

"Is that so?"

Erza leaned forward rested her chin in the palm of her hand with her elbow in the table, still grinning and blushing furiously.

"Uh-um, yeah, in fact on the way here, several people seemed to think I was someone they knew…"

"Here's your food, you guys…"

A waitress bustled over carrying two very large platters of lunch specials, all of which looked delectable. It seemed that both of them had quite the appetite.

"Enjoy your meal."

Erza pulled her hand from her partner's, allowing the waitress to set the food down and go back to the kitchens.

Meanwhile, with Jellal, something profoundly wrong seemed to press against his consciousness. It felt as if he had forgotten something and it was important… but what was it? It seemed to be right there in front of him, but all he saw were the children leading him farther into the town of Magnolia, away from… wherever he had been before that. A flicker of light caught his eye, and he ignored it for a time until he finally decided to look at the flickering flash of light. It was a beam of sunlight, but it was reflecting off of a ring upon the little girl's hand. A feeling of familiarity fell over him as he recognized it to be a charm spell, and with a gasp, Jellal felt his mind return to full sharpness. It was as if his senses had been dulled and he suddenly remembered where he was, whom he'd been following, and the little girl who had enchanted him. Taking the girl by the shoulder, he spun her around and knelt before her, frowning and staring into her eyes, which quickly fell to gaze at the ground.

"Who told you to do this? Who is behind this trickery?"

"No one," the girl said, clasping her hands behind her back to hide the ring once more, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Perhaps I should find your parents," Jellal said, "I am a wizard, I can use magic to find them and tell them about your immoral activities."

"Wha-NO! Don't tell my dad, he'll be sooo upset with me," the girl pleaded.

"Then tell me who made you do this."

"It was… someone from the Fairy Tail guild…"

Jellal's first thought was Erza, but then he realized how far-fetched that sounded… did she really have the foresight to do something like that? The correct answer was yes, and as she knew Jellal quite well, she would have known he'd try to tail her. But something still seemed off, Erza wasn't one for espionage, she'd have confronted him herself.

"Who was it?"

"I don't know," the girl said, "but they gave us ten jewel apiece to find and distract you, I swear that's it mister!"

"I believe you," Jellal said, "however…"

He grasped her wrist and took the charm spell ring from the girl's finger before standing up and pocketing it.

"This ring was likely given to you by the benefactor… let this be a lesson to you children, magic should never be used for nefarious purposes."

Jellal left the group of children standing in the street, looking rather grim, and unsure of the meaning of the word nefarious. He quickly began to march back to the square in which Erza and Julius were having their date in hopes of reclaiming his lost post and continuing his vigil. However, when he returned to the square, he found their table clear and he saw no signs of scarlet hair as he swept through the crowd with his sharp gaze. Even after he'd climbed the tree and searched for several minutes in silence, there was no sign. Something else caught his attention though, a beam of bright afternoon sunlight shot from the sky and struck the bar at the café where Erza and Julius had been, illuminating a head of bright blonde hair that shined golden in the sun. Jellal saw the hair, the curvaceous figure, and after a moment he recognized her as Lucy. Why was Lucy here? Now that Jellal thought about it, she had been right there throughout the entire date, though Jellal had been too focused upon Erza and Julius to notice Lucy's presence. Swinging from bough to bough, he descended from the treetop quickly, landing almost perfectly upon the stool next to Lucy's with little more than a light breeze. Lucy, having felt something shift in her immediate vicinity, turned to receive quite a fright at the hooded, masked figure appearing seemingly out of nowhere next to her.

"Idiot!"

Not exactly what Jellal expected to here from a frightened looking girl, but he didn't expect the sharp slug to his shoulder either. He rubbed the spot where she'd punched him and watched as she fell back into her stool, clutching her heart and breathing heavily.

"Don't… don't go sneaking up on me like that, I'm… way too tired too… focus right now…"

"Sorry, Lucy, I wasn't trying to scare you," Jellal said quietly, casting eyes this way and that, just in case.

"So, what brings you here," Lucy asked, leaning against the counter and swilling the last dregs of her who-knew-how-many-eth cup of coffee.

"The same thing that brought you here," Jellal said mischievously, "Erza's date."

After placing an order for some coffee, Jellal waited for both his drink, and for some sort of response from Lucy, who had the owner of the café fill her cup as well.

"I'm not here by choice," Lucy said finally, pouring creams and sugars into her coffee without pause.

"Then why are you here?"

"Erza asked me here," Lucy mumbled, "she wanted help getting ready for the date. I was supposed to watch and listen and make sure she didn't screw it up."

"So Erza brought you on for counseling… I guess that makes sense. But why did you pay off children to head me off," Jellal asked quietly.

Lucy grew still and she stared at nothing in particular, as if formulating an answer. She took a large gulp of her coffee and after taking a shaky breath, she spoke.

"That wasn't me, that must've been Erza," Lucy said simply.

"I doubt Erza would resort to something so intricate to keep me out of the way," Jellal retorted darkly.

"Well, perhaps you don't know her as well as you think you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Pardon my straightforwardness, but it means that you and Erza have barely seen each other over the years… she was gone for seven years, and you two have grown farther and farther apart. You've become so obsessed with redemption that you refuse to open your eyes and see that she doesn't hold you responsible, while Erza is so frustrated with her position and so scared of being alone she's begun the process of changing herself just to find a man who will take her off the market. You should've seen it coming if you ask me," Lucy said tiredly, as if explaining that two plus two is four.

"So what, suddenly I don't know Erza? I think that's a bit much," Jellal said confidently.

But for all his confidence, he still felt a grain of truth in Lucy's words. He'd thought Erza to be gone for seven years after all, his resolve had waned at times.

"I don't, I think it's perfectly normal. If the only man I ever loved completely threw aside my advances and made me feel worthless I'd do whatever it took to find someone who would never do that to me. And now it seems like Erza's found herself a decent guy, and you suddenly feel like throwing your lot into the bunch, like you can just come and go as you please. It makes you look like you don't care about Erza's feelings at all, and I think you just being here makes her upset and confused."

"So you're saying that I should leave," Jellal asked bitterly, his face rather sour beneath his mask, "that I should just forget about Erza and leave her with this Julius?"

Lucy fixed Jellal with a very serious look and Jellal couldn't help but lean back slightly. It was a very dark look, and the fact that Lucy had dark bags under her eyes, messy hair and a cold fire burning in her irises made him very wary of the celestial wizard's power. Sure, Jellal was in incredibly powerful wizard, but he alone was no match for ten of the thirteen Zodiac.

"I'm saying that if Julius truly makes Erza happy, you had best leave the two of them alone, or I will hold you solely responsible for Erza's loneliness, which has done nothing but grow over the years, and when she comes to me to vent I will simply point my finger at you and let her tear you to shreds herself," Lucy said sweetly.

"I'm not scared of Erza," Jellal said, his voice cracking as a bead of sweat ran from his temple.

Lucy, who was leaning over her coffee suddenly jolted, putting her face inches from Jellal's. The mysterious man gave a rather unmanly cry and almost fell from his stool before Lucy roughly pulled him back onto it.

"If you're scared of me, then you are definitely scared of Erza," she said before draining her cup and sliding it toward the edge of the café's bar.

Lucy stood from her stool and stretched before slowly walking away, intending to go and try and start her day off right with a hot shower and a crossword puzzle to help her brain start up.

"This guy has got my tab," Lucy said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at Jellal as she spoke to the café owner.

"That'll be one hundred jewel," the wizened old woman said to the stationary guildmage.

But even as Jellal dug through his coin purse, Erza and Julius were making their way past the Kardia Cathedral. Julius, the suitor and 'perfect' gentleman, had asked Erza's permission to walk her home after their date. Erza, who had no problem traversing the town, was unsure for a moment.

"You think I can't walk back by myself," Erza had asked him, raising an eyebrow as they set off from the park together.

"I know you can," Julius said, blushing furiously, "but I'd like to spend a little more time with you before we have to part ways."

Erza allowed it, and together they leisurely strolled through the streets of Magnolia, taking their time and moving in a winding pattern so as to prolong their time together. They spoke of unimportant things, but perhaps the fact that they were able to keep the conversation flowing is what was truly important. As all good things do, their evening walk ended, leaving them standing and facing each other upon the top steps of the guild hall in the dying light of the sun.

"I had an amazing time today," Erza said happily, "do you think I can see you again soon?"

"I certainly hope so. I'm afraid my current schedule is a bit hectic though. I'll write you and we can try and work out another date then."

Julius paused for a moment before frowning and blushing again.

"I mean, uh, was this a date? I mean, it felt like one, but-"

"Of course it was," Erza said, leaning in closer to Julius. They were so close now that they could feel each other's heat, as if the bright red patches upon their faces were actually burning. Their lips were moments away from meeting, and just before the contact.

"Huh," Erza said, her eyes wide as she held thin air. Julius had somehow squirmed out of Erza's grip and was smiling with his eyes closed as he talked incredibly fast.

"WellIguessI'llseeyoulaterbyeErza!"

And like that, he began to run down the steps of the Fairy Tail guild hall, leaving Erza to look after him, still gripping the air with her lips pursed.

About half an hour later, Lucy was sitting in her bathtub, relaxing with a copy of Sorcerer Weekly and another cup of coffee. She didn't know why, but it felt like she had lost a crucial moment of sleep that she would never get back. The bathroom was dimly lit save for a few candles surrounding the tub and the soapy water had lost its intense heat, leaving Lucy pruny in tepid waters. A knock upon the door to her apartment gave her a bit of a shock and she quickly stood from the tub, hiding from the chill of the cool night air by wrapping a robe around herself. After peering through the door's peep hole to see who had come to call, Lucy pulled it open just enough so that she could stick her head out the door.

"What are you doing here," Lucy hissed, looking down the stairs that lead to the ground floor, making sure no one else was present.

"I just wanted to make sure there was nothing else to do before I took all of this off," said a tall, blonde man.

Julius Leengard, the man whom had gone on a date with Erza Scarlet, was at the door of Lucy's apartment.

"No, nothing else," Lucy said, keeping her voice low and opening the door a bit more.

She crossed her arms, leaned against the doorframe, and gave a sly smirk as she looked Julius up and down.

"Ok, good, but there's something you should know…"

"What's that," Lucy asked sharply.

"Before my date with Erza ended… well, she-uh- she tried to kiss me," Julius stammered, looking at the ground and looking immensely uncomfortable.

"Haha, oh geez, really? We may have to advance the plan to the next phase," Lucy scoffed, "Jellal took the bait I set for him, too, so I think there's no point in waiting. Did you two schedule the next date?"

"No," Julius said, "I left that open, like I was supposed to, but even with that…."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're not telling me something," Lucy sighed, a rather stale, fixed smile sliding into place as her eyes became rather cold.

"Well-uh-when she tried to kiss me I sort of chickened out, heheh…heh," Julius laughed lamely, sweat beading his brow as he watched the smile on Lucy's face turn into a scowl.

Lucy grabbed Julius by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him close, making him shrink away from her as her hot breath made his neck tingle. She put her lips by his ear, but far from the contact being loving, it made the skin prickle in the back of the man's neck.

"You knew the risks of the plan when you got involved," Lucy said quietly, "we agreed that this was for the best, you've seen how Erza has been. I'll be arranging another date as soon as I have the time to write up a letter to send to her, and this time if you flinch, if I sense any hesitation, I will make sure that you are solely to blame for any complications. I don't care if Erza and you are close, make sure you play your part well for her. She deserves better, doesn't she?"

Julius nodded frantically, a determined frown upon his face. Lucy smiled and let go of his collar before stepping back into her apartment.

"Then next time make sure you go through with your acting, she has to believe Julius Leengard exists if we're gonna pull this off. Go back to the hotel, make sure you wash the makeup off your face and then you can go home. And don't forget to check that you aren't being followed," Lucy whispered, holding a finger to her lips.

"Uh, yeah, goo-good night, L-Lucy."

Far from fearful, Julius was smiling and pink in the face as blood ran from his nostrils. Following his gaze, Lucy realized that her robe's sash had come loose and was revealing ample amounts of cleavage.

"Kya!"

With a cry, Lucy slammed the door shut as light, airheaded giggling could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Why don't you put a little of that pervy attitude towards making Erza like you, idiot," Lucy called before she stomped back into her bathroom to draw up another hot tub of water.

What's this? An update? Gasp! Yes, welcome one and all to this fanfiction. Sorry it took so long, I've been very busy. This chapter is rather short, but a plot of sorts is beginning to unfold around Erza Scarlet and Jellal; what could it possibly be? And why does Lucy, of all people, seem to be spearheading this scheme? I suppose there's only one way to find out, and that's by checking back whenever the heck you feel like it!

On a somewhat related topic, is there anyone that would be willing to act as an editor for my writing? I read through these pages over and over, but I can't ever seem to find all the typos. You would, of course, get sneak peaks of my work and would be asked to read through and fix any mistakes before it went up for public viewing. If interested, PM me and we can make an arrangement.