Shackles of Yesterday
Seiyuki Narimaru
A/N: I made it to chapter four. For some reason I can't seem to tear myself away from writing. Thank you all for your continued support because it's about to get interesting.
By the way, I'm terrible at fight scenes and welcome as much feedback as possible to make the next one better!
Sigh. I don't own Fairy Tail :(
Chapter Four: Not Without A Fight
"You really think that will work, Natsu?" Jellal looked skeptical regarding the plan details, but one look at Natsu's face told him that he absolutely had to try.
"It will as long as you stay with us!" Natsu grinned.
Jellal nodded slowly and stood up with a look of determination. "Well then," he started. "Let's get me out of here!"
The group cheered and for the first time, Jellal felt himself smile freely. This was the first step toward his new life. Erza smiled at his changed demeanor and even Gajeel nodded in approval. Gray looked up at the man and noticed how relaxed he had become. His gaze moved towards the door as he wondered what could be taking Lyon so long.
"Hey, Gray," Jellal interrupted. "Your phone is ringing."
Gray fumbled for a moment and tried to get a grasp on his phone. He answered it and nodded into the receiver. "I'm coming. Give me a moment."
He opened the door to reveal a tired looking Lyon Vastia and let him inside. The two men shook hands and Lyon froze at the sight of the bandaged Jellal.
"What happened to you, Jellal?"
Jellal turned to his employer and his friend with a look of embarrassment on his face. He had to tell him eventually as he would be leaving this town with his friends.
"I apologize for the short notice, Lyon," he started, "but I have to resign. It's effective immediately."
Lyon noticed the exhaustion in Jellal's voice and sighed before pulling up a chair. He and Jellal had become friends in the last three years and Lyon offered him a job to help him back on his feet. The expression he held was not one of disappointment, but one of concern.
"I don't care about that, Jellal," he said. "I care about your safety as a friend more than anything."
"Someone may come asking for me. You never came to see me. You have no idea who I am," Jellal rushed out.
Lyon nodded and produced an envelope from his inside pocket. He handed it to Jellal and smiled lightly.
"This is yours," he said quietly. "I took caution to make sure that human resources removed any record of you being at the company. I thought something like this would happen and I tried to keep an eye on you, but you are a hard man to watch. I'm sorry, Jellal. I'm so sorry."
Jellal shook his head and opened the envelope to reveal a check along with money. He looked up at Lyon in confusion until the other man nodded again.
"Take it. Go start your new life, Jellal."
Lyon placed his hand on the injured man's shoulder and smiled. He was trusted with something important and wouldn't betray that trust. Jellal deserved much better and with his new start, he would find a woman to love him. He knew from the first company gathering that Minerva was more than she appeared. She didn't think anyone watched, but he had seen the way she berated him when they thought they were alone. He watched Jellal come in to work with bruises and though the man thought he did a good job covering them, Lyon knew.
Jellal closed the envelope and shook Lyon's hand. He couldn't believe this was really happening to him.
"Thank you, Lyon," he sniffled. This time he could care less if someone saw him cry. These were tears of relief and he couldn't have been happier. There was nothing that could stand in his way.
She barged through the hotel doors seething in rage with two men behind her. The staff behind the front desk knew her face and bowed their heads for the owner's daughter. She walked up to the counter and held out a picture of Jellal.
"Did this man come in here today?" She asked impatiently.
One of the men behind the desk looked at the picture and bowed his head. "No, ma'am," he said softly. "Neither I nor my staff here saw anyone that looked like that."
She exhaled slowly and produced another picture, this time of Natsu and Gray. The front desk clerk opened his mouth and nodded slowly.
"I did see them. Would you like us to call the police?" He asked nervously, afraid he had let criminals in.
"Oh, that won't be necessary," she said sweetly. "Could you call him for me please and ask him to come down?"
The staff member nodded again and dialed Natsu's room number. Minvera looked at the numbers he dialed and sent the numbers in a text message to the two men behind her. They looked at their phones and excused themselves.
Natsu answered the phone to the room and became suspicious immediately. He wasn't expecting anyone else, yet the desk clerk informed him that he had a visitor that asked for him by name. He asked them to wait a moment while he made his way down. He disconnected the line and turned to the group in alarm.
"Go to Erza's room," he said to Jellal. "Go with her and Lyon, now. Do not answer the door and put the lock on. If I need you, I will call your mobile. Do not answer the room phone. Do not make a sound. Keep your phones on silent to be safe."
Jellal looked at him in confusion and Natsu opened the door to poke his head out into the hallway. The coast was clear and he looked back at the still sitting group.
"I said move!" He yelled. "Now!"
They moved at the raised octave in his voice and hurried out. Natsu looked at Gray and the man nodded once they were safely in Erza's room. Gajeel moved to clean up the evidence that Jellal had been in the room and turned the TV on to look busy.
"What's going on, Natsu?" Gajeel asked. "Why'd you have them go there?"
Natsu looked back over his shoulder and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "We're about to have some unexpected company."
At that moment, they heard a knock on the door it startled Gray just a bit. They stood collectively and Natsu went to open the door. He saw a blonde haired man alongside a black haired one with folded arms. The blonde haired man narrowed his blue eyes and looked at the man next to him.
"Well Rogue," he began. "Looks like Minerva was right about them not looking strong. This should be a piece of cake."
The other man looked at the three guys and then back to his partner. "Don't get cocky, Sting," he said quietly. "I'm sure you remember what happened to you last time."
The blonde haired man huffed and pushed his way into the room, hitting Natsu's shoulder. Natsu turned and glared at him. Sting looked around and Rogue stood by the door in case anyone tried to leave.
"Whatever you're looking for, you won't find it." Natsu said calmly. Inside he seethed and wanted to punch these guys for barging in.
"Where's Jellal?" Sting asked. "He's not home and his girlfriend isn't happy."
"I bet she isn't," Gajeel scoffed. "Her chain loosened and she knows it's not going to work anymore. She's going to get hers."
Sting turned around to face him and drew his fist back. "You making threats?"
Gajeel stood up to answer the man's silent challenge and laughed in his face. He had been itching to fight since Erza interrupted the one on the train.
"It's not a threat," he said, blocking the fist that flew towards him.
Sting stepped back to free his captured fist and raised his other to a fighting stance. No one threatened his Minerva. He dodged Gajeel's fist and punched the man in his stomach. Gajeel doubled over slightly and Sting grabbed the opportunity to knee him in the face.
"Shit," Gajeel groaned. "You're quicker than I gave you credit for, Blondie."
He stood up and cracked his knuckles before wiping the blood from his nose. Levy was going to be pissed when he came home, but he didn't care. Gajeel narrowed his eyes and returned the punch to Sting's abdomen, but didn't stop there. He landed punches on the man's face causing Sting stumbled backwards, hitting the wall. Gray attempted to head towards the door, but Rogue shook his head at him.
"Sorry," he said. "You'll have to get through me first."
Natsu pushed past Gray and Rogue delivered a kick to the pink haired man's face to stop him from leaving. Gray caught his friend and assumed his fighting stance to take Rogue on himself. Rogue straightened his shirt and patted his pants as if he were removing dust from them. Gray looked between Rogue and the door as Rogue seized the opportunity to punch him. Gray quickly blocked the fist before it reached his face and tried to move away to gain leverage.
"You'd think someone would hear the commotion and tell the front desk." Natsu grumbled.
Gray shook his head and looked at the two men closely. "No," he said. "They have the front desk in their palms. We'll have to take care of this."
"No one will get hurt if you just tell us where Jellal is!" Sting yelled, landing another punch to Gajeel's face.
Gray kicked Rogue hard enough for the man to hit the back of the door with a thump. They needed an opening to tell Erza to stay put.
Erza paced back and forth in the room glancing at the clock and her phone to see if there was a message. She hadn't heard anything in an hour and she was becoming impatient. Lyon excused himself to the restroom and left her with Jellal alone. She looked at the man and stopped pacing at the sight of his facial expression. He looked as if he wasn't in the same room. It was almost a catatonic state. She fought her feelings, but they won when she sat behind him on the bed and gave him a gentle hug. She knew that face. It was the face of someone tuning out their surroundings.
'His defense mechanism,' she thought softly. 'Oh, Jellal. I won't let her hurt you. Not anymore.'
Lyon emerged from the restroom and cleared his throat softly, startling Erza as she pulled away from Jellal. He looked at the still figure and ran his hand through his hair before sitting back down.
"Erza, was it?" He asked. "You seem to know Jellal pretty well. May I ask how?"
Erza knew he was trying to change the subject and assumed he noticed her facial expressions. She still couldn't figure out why her heart reacted in such a way, but from the look on Lyon's face, he knew something.
"We were childhood friends," she said softly. "I moved out of our town of Magnolia with my parents. My mother and father owned a company in Cedar so we moved there as they wanted to run the company without a big commute. How do you know, Jellal?"
"As you've heard, I am his boss," Lyon started. "However, I was his friend for a while before that. I met him one night while we were out celebrating Gray's birthday in Magnolia. I had already been living in Oshibana and my company had just started to pick up. Jellal was single and much happier back then. We kept in contact and about eight months later he told me that he was moving to Oshibana with his girlfriend, Minerva. From what he said, they had only been dating for about 4 months. I thought it was a little too soon for it, but supported him anyway and told him he had a job waiting when he moved. About a month later, Jellal shows up to work with a black eye. I asked him what happened and he told me he had gotten into a fight because someone assaulted Minerva. I didn't think anything of it, but he kept showing up with scratches and bruises. I finally got an answer out of him when he called me one morning to tell me he was in the hospital. When I got there, he told me what really happened. I was appalled, but he begged me not to say anything. He said she was just upset about what happened when she met the rest of the group. They had gotten into a fight at home and she struck him repeatedly with a glass bottle."
Erza listened to the story with absolute disgust. She couldn't believe what Jellal endured for so long. Her heart ached for him and she couldn't imagine how he felt. She wanted to help ease his pain. She ignored Lyon's expression and wrapped her arms around Jellal again. He hadn't moved at all and she could tell that he was fighting his own battle on the inside. She could hear his racing heartbeat and held tighter to try and calm him.
"When he returned to work, I pulled him into my office." Lyon continued. "I spoke to him as a friend and told him I would have his back no matter what. I asked why he didn't go to the police, but he said that she was always watching him. We'd go out to lunch and she would call constantly asking him why he wasn't in the office. That's when we found the GPS tracker embedded into his phone. He eventually confided in me that he went once and they laughed him out of the station. He said he felt so humiliated and didn't dare to go back."
He sighed sadly and looked at Jellal once more before finishing his tale. "I kept watch over him in the office, but I couldn't protect him when he left. I was a coward. I was scared to call the police because I didn't want him to suffer again. It was such a stupid decision. When Gray called me and wanted to meet, I knew from the sound of his voice that it wasn't going to be a pleasant visit. I went to my payroll department to have them cut a paper check for Jellal and put some of my own cash into an envelope for him to help him. I had my HR director destroy his company personnel records to erase his existence and came here as soon as I could. The money will never be enough to ease the suffering he's endured."
Erza remembered the envelope that Jellal had given her and she had placed it into her suitcase as he requested. The man in her arms stirred slightly and she closed her eyes against his back, silently hoping.
Jellal fought with all his might, but couldn't wake himself from his nightmare. He could see and hear them, but he felt paralyzed. He heard Erza's soft voice calling to him and tried to run towards her with all his might. He felt chained and Minerva's voice rang out loudly in his head.
"I won't let you escape, Jellal."
He felt pressure around his waist as if something were holding him and preventing him from moving. He blinked, trying to snap himself out of his thoughts, but the arms around him grew tighter. He gasped in fear and pushed back against Erza, sending her back against the mattress. He towered over her and stared down, believing he was staring at Minerva. Lyon stood up to get to Jellal, but Erza shook her head and looked back at him.
"Jellal," she whispered. "It's me, Erza. Come on. Snap out of it for me, Jellal."
"I-I'm sorry," he groaned. "I won't make you mad. Don't hit me. E-Erza, don't let her take me."
He collapsed on her and pinned her under his weight. She sighed used her strength to roll him onto his back and sat up. She could see the pain in his facial expression and gently touched the side of his face.
"Erza. Don't leave me," he pleaded sleepily.
It looked like a tornado ran through the hotel room as Rogue lay on the floor with a bloodied nose. Sting faced Natsu, staggering slightly from the pain in his ribs. Gray and Gajeel were unconscious against the wall and Natsu had a massive headache. He felt pain radiating throughout his entire body and narrowed his eyes at Sting. It seemed that this would be the last move they could make.
"You put up a pretty good fight," Sting said. "Looks like Minerva was wrong after all."
"You're not bad yourself, Blondie," Natsu grinned. Despite the circumstances of it, he had enjoyed this fight.
The two men readied themselves again and Sting moved as fast as he could towards Natsu, but Natsu lowered himself to the ground and swept his foot against Sting's legs to make him lose his balance. Sting fell to the ground and Natsu seized the opportunity to punch him in the face, rendering the man unconscious. He limped over to Gajeel and Gray and shook them until they opened their eyes.
"Get the hell up," he hissed. "We need to move now."
He packed up his laptop and grabbed his phone. Erza needed to know what was happening because the party was about to come to her room. He went to her contact and typed as fast as he could into the phone.
The party is coming to you. We're coming down. Hide Jellal.
He pressed the send button just as Gray and Gajeel stood up. They looked disoriented and Gajeel stumbled a bit before grabbing his backpack.
"I can't believe you guys let Rogue knock you out like that," he grinned. "Especially you, Gray."
They both turned red and limped out of the room carefully. Natsu looked over his shoulder to make sure there were no surprises as Gray knocked on the door.
"Erza," he whispered. "It's us. Hurry."
The door opened and they rushed in to avoid someone seeing them. Lyon locked the door behind them and Erza's jaw dropped in shock. She shook her head and motioned for them to sit down.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Ambush," Gray said. "She's in the hotel and it looks like we'll have to fight if we want to leave."
The sudden knock on the door startled the group and Erza stood up to answer the door. She motioned for the rest of the group to stand by Jellal and she tied her hair into a ponytail. Once they had him protected, Natsu nodded and she opened the door.
"You must be Erza," the voice sneered. "He's dreamt of you a lot. You're the cause for quite a bit of his suffering."
A/N: Psst. There's a button at the bottom. Press it and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.