Don't get used to such fast updates, the only reason is that I had half of the chapter already written out. But I was very much amused by the fact that noone guessed correctly what Faust's remark was about, inspite of all the hints I dropped. Dlkg got closest, though.

Chapter 4: Chessmasters

"Erza is a queen?" Jellal dropped the piece he was about to move.

"Pay attention!" Faust admonished. "You said that you know how to play."

Jellal picked up his bishop and moved it two squares left.

"Explain yourself, father."

Faust leaned backwards in his chair, studying the board and seemingly ignoring his son.

"Father?"

"Quiet! I'm thinking about how to explain it to you."

At last, Faust reached over, picking up the black king.

"You have never learned to see people around you as chess pieces. Take this king, for example. The role of the king in the chess reflects a king's position in life. It's best if you keep the king well defended by other pieces, restraining its movement to minimum. That should be you, sitting tight in the palace where it's safe, not prancing all over the country, playing a messenger."

"Father!"

"I'm not finished. The chess reflects life and learning to see everyone around you in regards to their position on the chessboard would serve you well."

"People are not pawns to be played with," Jellal said with conviction, absolutely firm on this point. "It would be immoral to think about them as such."

"Idealistic nonsense," Faust waved off his argument. "You can't utilize them to their best abilities if you are squeamish of seeing them as your figures - yours to use, yours to discard, yours to sacrifice. Or do you think you will always have the luxury of choosing a high moral ground? You won't. And the sooner you realize that, the better for everyone."

"I can't agree with you, father. I just can't. It goes against everything I believe in, against everything I-"

"-have spent the last seven years doing," Faust finished for him. "And still you fail to see your arrogance. Where did you come up with the idea that you know the best? You are no better than me in that regard."

"I have never been like you!" Jellal hissed. If there was one goal, one idea in his life it was that he would never become like his father. Faust snorted which broke into a cough.

"You disagreed with my plan for obtaining the magic," the former King said after he got his coughing fit under control. "And your solution to that wasn't trying to talk me out of it or gaining a support in the Council to cancel those plans. No, you decided to run off, leaving the Kingdom without its Heir Apparent and you made a big nuisance out of yourself, sabotaging all of our efforts, efforts made for the sake of your homeland. And you did all of that just to get back at me, no matter how much you want to dress it up as playing a hero."

"I was just a child. You wouldn't have listened," Jellal protested, letting the rest of his father's argument slide for the time being.

"You were twelve. At thirteen, you would have been required to sit in on the Council meetings and even dealing with some of the problems that arose. You would have the necessary political pull to at least slow down the Anima project, if nothing else."

Jellal deflated at hearing that. He never knew of that. But he refused to believe that he was similar to the man sitting before him.

"I still don't see a similarity between us. And I wasn't trying to get back at you."

"You hated me. Yes, you did," Faust silenced his protests. "I don't think you still do but one part of you have always blamed me for the death of your mother. And back then, running away must have appeared the best way to strike at me. I lost my heir, the only reason for which I married your mother. Even if you didn't realize it then, your subconsciousness did. Tell me, was it satisfying, the first time you closed the Anima in Earthland? Did you taste a sweet tang of victory, seeing my plans thwarted by your actions?"

There was a long silence. Admitting that part of him did enjoy the knowledge that his father's plans had been ruined by him would mean admitting that his father was at least partially right. And if he was right about one thing, then he might have been right about other things as well. The thought was terrifying to Jellal. He had always strove to be different from his father, different in actions and different in beliefs.

"I'm not like you. I can't be like you."

"Arbitrarily deciding what's best for everyone? What the correct solution is? Pushing through your way of doing things? You are exactly like me, Jellal. You are my son, whether you like it or not. You can't escape that fact again."

A bitter, short laugh escaped from Jellal's mouth.

"No, I can't escape that fact. Damn it!"

The young King buried his head in his hands. He looked utterly broken and Faust might have pitied him a little if he didn't realize how necessary it was. Jellal needed to be confronted with his failings and shortcomings so that he would be able to overcome them. He needed to be pushed to his limit so that he would either push back or break down. Either way, he would come out of the confrontation wiser and stronger than before. And no one was better for that than Faust himself. He had gone through the same thing with the three Dragon Slayers. Being without an equal for so long, he had let his pride and arrogance draw him into a confrontation that had been unnecessary. If the magic used to fuel Doroma Anim had been supplied to his forces, the outcome of that fateful day might have been different. But he had decided to take on those impudent younglings himself, showing up his son in the process. And he had been beaten and broken completely. His pride had become his downfall, his entire psyche shattered upon encountering the Dragons' manifestations. He had been taught humility and that lesson brought him to the present where he tried to help his son in the only way he could - by forcing him to face up to his own demons.

As the minutes ticked by, Jellal seemed to gather himself a bit, like Faust had known he would. He was still very pale but the miniscule shaking of his hands had stopped. As he raised his face to look at his father, he looked determined.

"You were right in some things, father but you were wrong in the rest. I might have done some things wrong, thinking I knew the best way but my intention was, first and foremost, to help other people. Any other motive was secondary to that."

Faust smirked a bit. Yes, the boy had found his equilibrium again.

"Which brings us back to the point I was trying to make before we became distracted. You should have learned to see those people as pieces on the chessboard. Or at least some of them."

Seeing that he had Jellal's full attention, he picked up another of his black pieces, the game all but forgotten by both of them.

"We have already established that you are the king, the least mobile unit on the board, with the exception of pawns but infinitely more valuable. You lose the king, you lose the game. Now this," he raised his figure to show Jellal. "This is the knight. It has a peculiar movement pattern which makes it an excellent choice for ambushes and for distracting an opponent. Captains Hughes and Sugarboy are your respective knights in your game, as they have been mine. Their peculiarities make them an excellent choice for diversionary tactics and they have considerable capabilities of their own."

He picked up another piece, a rook this time.

"The rook is very straightforward, being capable of moving in a linear fashion only. The rooks are your flank defense. In real life, my rooks were the RSA and the Magical Force Units."

Jellal was starting to see where his father was going with this and he only wondered what Erza's place on this fictional chessboard was.

"Coco and Byro were my bishops. No fancy movements like the knights but fast and effective nonetheless. The pawns were almost anyone else. And now, for the most useful piece on the board. The queen."

Faust dangled the said piece in front of Jellal's face.

"The queen is not restricted in its movement. It can go back and forth by any number of squares, can even move in a diagonal line. It can be used for both offense and defense. It's extremely versatile and if you use it well, you have a sure victory. I had two queens on my board and one of them was quite willing to serve you as well."

"Two?" Jellal asked. He had worked out almost immediately that one of those queens was supposed to be Erza. Who was the other one?

"Yes, two. Erza Knightwalker and Panther Lily. Hughes and Sugarboy are competent officers and soldiers, but not quickly adaptable. Lily and Erza surpassed them in every regard. The two of them were my most useful soldiers. And Erza was more than useful. She was also incredibly loyal, not to me personally but to what I represented - the country and its people. When I quoted that 'Each man's duty is to the king' you replied 'But each man's soul is his own.' It's not true with Erza. With her, even her soul belonged to her duty. And what did you do with this incredibly useful piece? You discarded her off the board completely."

Faust dropped the queen he was holding on the table.

"You failed to realize her potential and now you are here, most likely to attempt to put her back on the board. Am I right?"

With a sigh, Jellal nodded. His father leaned back, steepling his fingers thoughtfully.

"It's not going to be easy," he warned. "You will most likely have to beg."

"I know and I'm prepared to do whatever's necessary to get her on my side again," Jellal replied.

"Good. Than let me call her and you can discuss what you came here for. I think that she had enough time to cool off."

Erza Knightwalker had a new reason to despise her young King. Not only had he sent her away without a reason but seeing him again had her lose the control of her temper and mouth. She had insulted him, deliberately striking at his position and disrespecting him. And all because she had underestimated just how hurt she had been by his dismissal.

There was no one in the training grounds with her, everyone else was most likely scared to death of her, as they should be. She stroke at the straw figure in front of her again, the cloth tearing and the straw spilling out as a blood would from a human being.

This was unacceptable, she decided. She was one of the most loyal people to the crown. What did it matter that the crown was on the head of such a brat? She hadn't seen an eye to eye with Faust before and she had never reacted like this. Then again, Faust had always valued her, had never dismissed her like Jellal had, not even after she had failed to track down the Fairy Tail for the second and third time. Faust had appreciated her and she had always wanted to be appreciated.

Erza knew she was proud but she had never realized how deep her pride ran or how much it was intertwined with her sense of self-worth. Giving one last shattering blow to the figure, it split at the seams and tumbled to the ground. She was a good fighter, she was a good soldier and she was more than capable of taking reign of her own temper. She would go and listen to what Jellal wanted to say to her and she would try and see him as her King, not as the man who had so thoughtlessly tossed her away.

Yes, that was a good plan, she nodded to herself, turning away from the destruction she had caused. She would show him how much he had underestimated her. She would prove herself to be a bigger person, able to put her personal feelings aside for the sake of her duty. And hopefully, he had rid himself of that terrible cloak and staves that had prompted her outburst at the welcome in the first place. Seeing him dressed just like he had been when she had seen him for the first time, when he had clearly chosen the side of their enemies, had brought her rage at him and her own inability to stop those people bubbling to the surface and she had lashed out. No more of that. She was the Ice Queen of the MFU, not easily perturbed by anything and she would stay true to her reputation, no matter what.

"Captain Knightwalker?" a young voice piped up from the side. One of the pages stood there, visibly trembling.

"What is it?" she barked out but had a good guess just why he was there.

"His Highness, Lord Faust, is asking for your presence in the study immediately."

"I'll be there shortly," she flashed a mirthless smile in the page's direction, terrifying the poor boy even more. "I need to clean up first."

"I-I'll tell them, Ma'am."

The page fled and Erza dropped the smile. Tell them. Of course, Jellal would be there as well. She knew what she had to do but it didn't make it any easier on her. But she had always faced everything head on and she wouldn't back away from this challenge.

The door swung open and a page stuck his head in.

"Captain Knightwalker has arrived," he announced. Jellal took a deep breath. The moment was here.

"Send her in," he ordered, surprised that his voice didn't tremble more. Faust coughed somewhere behind him and Jellal was sure that this time it was a suppressed laugh instead of something else. His father seemed to get a kick out of seeing him fall to pieces before meeting Erza. That old sadist, Jellal thought almost fondly.

Erza stepped in, no longer dressed in her armor and instead wearing an uniform similar to Hughes'. She closed the door behind her and stood there for a moment, almost looking vulnerable. And then the impression dissolved as she straightened up, her gaze meeting his head on.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness," she acknowledged both of them. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted," Jellal said, curious to what she wanted to say. She turned to stare in his direction, her face freezing even more.

"Your Majesty, please accept my apology for the behaviour I displayed upon your arrival. My conduct was inexcusable and I regret losing my temper that way."

Jellal waited for a moment if she would add more but it was clear this was all he was getting. He noticed that she had apologized for her breach of conduct but not for the words she had said. Erza was not a liar and that could only mean she had meant those words she had told him. But still, even this half-apology was more than he had expected.

"Apology accepted, Captain."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. May I ask as for the reason for my presence?"

Grateful that she was going straight to business, Jellal gathered all of his materials and started to spread them over the main desk.

"I was told that you had been in charge of planning an invasion into Umbria, several months ago."

"Correct."

"I need you to pick up those plans, adjust them to the current situation and then proceed with the invasion as soon as possible."

Erza picked up a military map of Umbria before levelling him with a look.

"I would think you had other things to worry about than an insurgence in some backwater land."

"It is vital that we reclaim Umbria as soon as possible," Jellal replied and proceeded to explain what Laharl Feyman and his team had found out. Erza was listening intently, looking over the documents he was handing her as he recapitulated everything he had remembered from Laharl's explanation. But as he got to the part of needing to get Umbria back, she shook her head and dropped the papers down.

"No, the invasion won't work. Not enough time."

"But they said you are the best," Jellal protested and then recoiled from her as she snarled.

"I AM the best but I don't do miracles. Just planning the campaign alone would take two to three months. Then you have to consider the travelling distance, the units that would take part, the supply lines. There is a reconaissance work to be done since we have no idea what we are facing. The soldiers are yet to be retrained from relying on the magic so much and there is not enough of them anyway. You can't afford to pull those we have from the rescue efforts."

"So I came here for nothing."

"I wouldn't say that," she said pleasantly before changing her demeanour completely. "You would do well to remember that underestimating me is never a good idea, Your Majesty. I said the invasion wouldn't work, not that the situation was hopeless."

"You have an idea?"

Erza nodded, tapping the blue binder with an RSA logo.

"Did Laharl say how big the mobile Anima they are building would be?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Have him build it as small as possible. I'm not much of an engineer but I think they should be able to construct one that could be carried by a single minor Legyon. And if they could make it so it's possible to deconstruct and reconstruct it easily, that would be even better."

"I think they planned to do that from the beginning."

"Good," Erza said as she stared at the map unseeingly. "How long will that take?"

"Laharl estimated a week at most," Jellal spoke slowly, trying to guess what she meant by all of those questions.

"Have them send it to this outpost once they are done. It's the closest one to Asenai port. There are ships in there that frequently cross the sea to Umbria," she looked up and smirked at his expression. "An invasion won't work. An infiltration just might."

"An infiltration."

"Of course. Don't send an army. Too much time to prepare and really obvious once it sets out. Send in a small team, five people or less. That many can be spared without any trouble and if the Anima is built small enough, they will have no problems in transporting it where it's needed. The best thing is that those ruffians who are in charge in Umbria nowadays will be none the wiser about it."

She looked incredibly proud of herself for thinking that up and Jellal had to admit that she had every right to be. Was this what his father had meant by her adaptability? He had asked his other Captains for an advice and they all had come up with the invasion idea. Even knowing the difficulties inherent in such a solution, they had clung to it, choosing to waste their time and effort on overcoming said difficulties instead of trying to find a new solution. Erza was different and Jellal wanted to smack himself for letting his idiocy and inability in dealing with his new situation drive her away.

"Do you have any suggestions about the members of that team?" Faust joined their conversation, seeing as Erza was engrossed in basking in her victory and Jellal was watching her with the most peculiar expression on his face.

"I would like to lead it," Erza said challengingly, turning to stare at Jellal who just nodded. "As for the rest, I want to think it over. I need to go over the information on Umbria first, see what kind of people I should take."

"The latest news are here," Jellal handed her the other two binders. She didn't open them but instead tucked them under her arm.

"I'll get back to you early in the morning. If you'll excuse me," she gave a short nods to both men and strode out of the room. Jellal sank back into the chair by the chessboard, rubbing his face tiredly.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Faust commented as he limped over to sit down as well.

"I agree. I'm still in one piece."

"She wouldn't have attacked you outright. I was more concerned about having to break up an argument. Then again, maybe a physical fight between the two of you wouldn't be such a bad idea," Faust mused, watching with amusement as Jellal bolted out of his chair.

"She would pulverize me," he said in shock. "How could you even suggest that?"

"Don't sell yourself short, Jellal. From what I heard, you held your ground nicely against the Demon Lord," his father mocked.

"That fight was staged and you know it," Jellal accused.

"That brat didn't seem capable of really holding back, though."

"No, Natsu always gave his everything to the fight," Jellal smiled a bit. "Still, I'm not stupid enough to challenge Erza to a fight."

"It would help with the tension."

"What tension?" Jellal asked, more defensively than he had meant.

"I'm old and most likely getting senile but even I can see that there is something unspoken going on between the two of you. Both of you have forced yourself to behave politely and ignore it but unless it's brought out into the open, you'll keep clashing over mundane things. You and Erza need to talk. You need to tell her why you sent her away and she needs to tell you why she dislikes you so much, instead of hiding behind other reasons."

"Full disclosure, father?"

"Yes, in a way. You have a week, Jellal. Think on it. It's not just about you."

"I know. I'll talk to her tommorrow. I promise."

Besides, he added to himself, if I want to go to Umbria with her, I need to clear things up. I'm going to take responsibility for this and she will have to let me. I just hope she won't kill me once I confess everything.

A/N: I keep torturing them both, huh? But I'd like to address something regarding my treatment of the characters in this fic. Jellal and Erza, as they are written in Divided We Stand, are very different from my portrayal of them in my other fics, especially in Royalty, Arrangement, Duty and Fate, otherwise known as the Restoration series. In those fics, they are ruled by their brains more. They think before they act, they contemplate their actions more, they behave like rational adults. Divided We Stand puts them in a difficult situation. A situation that has them reacting more emotionally than rationally. Their world is falling apart and so they lash out. They are forced to face their inner demons and fears. They are not perfect, they are flawed and the flaws are pushed forth and focused on. But by confronting their ugly sides, they become better people. Also, it makes for great drama and angst :p

Anyway, the shit is going to hit the fan for real next chapter, if you pardon my French. Jellal is going to come clear about the magic and Erza will not be happy about that. Let's make it another week, ok? Ja ne...