Thanks for everyone who reviewed for the last chapter, reviews make me feel so happy especially since school's not that much fun. Therefore, I present to you the next chapter of To Be Oneself, I hope you enjoy.


"Your face color is bad today Prince. Is there a reason why you are getting so nervous, Jellal-sama?" Coco asked innocently as she cleared the plates from his morning meal. "Is someone coming to visit you who you don't want to visit?"

"No, that's not it exactly…" he assured the young girl as he sat in his chair looking like he was suffering from a headache, which he was since he's quite the lightweight.

"Then do you have a headache or feel bad? I could get medicine for you."

"No, I'm fine. You can go now, Coco."

Suddenly Faye appeared out of nowhere and started talking. "Coco, you're right. He's not well at all. This is the image of a fully grown man who's lovesick for a certain girl, but is too embarrassed to tell her his true feelings."

"Is that true? Jellal-sama loves Simon-san's sister?"

"Of course it's true, and moreover-"

"That's enough from both of you," Jellal mentioned as he pushed them out of the room. How that woman knew what he was feeling was beyond him, though it'd probably be less obvious if he didn't think about her and accidentally loose threads of the conversation.

He's certainly interested in her, but he wasn't sure if that could be called love. Maybe it they were just searching for the same thing. Maybe it was because she was so unusually interesting. Maybe it was because she wasn't someone who was purposely trying to get close to him. But no matter how one looked at it, they have the same problems.

"Prince, may I enter? I have a letter for you."

A letter? That was rare. "Yes, of course." The maid walked in and handed him a letter. "Who is it from?"

"I have no idea Prince. It merely has your name on it. "Jellal turned the envelope around to find no traces of the person who sent it. "Oh, and Lady Knightwalker has come for a visit. Shall I let her in?"

"Yes, please. Take her in here like always."

"Understood, Prince." She bowed and exited the room to get the guest. Jellal opened the letter, while he was still in peace, wondering who it could be from. Right when he recognized the familiar handwriting, his eyes scanned down the page quickly as though if he didn't read it fast enough, something bad would happen. Finally, at the end of the letter, there was their typical and familiar signature. He smiled in nostalgia. Finally! "Prince."

Jellal flinched back and hide the letter. "Yes, what is it?"

"I've brought Lady Knightwalker. I shall take my leave."

When the door closed, Erza asked, "So what happened last night after I passed out?" She'll ignore whatever he was hiding for now. "Ultear told me that you carried me off somewhere…" Erza was now emitting a dark aura around her and quite frankly she looked like she was willing to kill in order to receive an answer to her question.

"What? Nothing happened!" he insisted. He should have expected that coming; he knows how Ultear is. Just look at all of the times she's teased him in the past.

"Hm… Fine, I'll believe you. So why did you want me here?"

"I feel as though I'm being interrogated," he pointed out with a light chuckle. But the glare that was being directed towards him, he coughed and went straight on to business. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something." Erza raised an eyebrow but remained quiet. "I need a sparring partner."

"Isn't that what the knights can do? Why would you want me to be your sparring partner?"

"Well, it's not just my sparring partner, I need to get used to using weapons again since I don't think I can just use a staff all the time in case something happens."

"Again, I say go to the knights. Aren't they better trained than I am?" Besides, they get more practice and she's lucky if she can get out at least once a weak. Every time she goes out she feels rusty.

"I've tried before, but they won't even try against me since I'm the prince, but you on the other hand really don't care about that." That was when Erza began to curse herself for her choice of not acting like a normal noble. "And none of them have the same talent as you do, not even your brother."

"You know how to make a girl feel special don't you? Comparing me to knights who are supposed to be better in terms of fighting," she emphasized. "Besides, as much as I hate Simon, I hate it when people compare the two of us."

"Even when it's a compliment towards you?"

"Just don't mention him in the conversation at all. And how do you expect me to be able to help you? If Simon finds out, then he'll tell my father, and he'll put me in my room until I get married to someone who has the status and influence." And practically everyone knows that Erza Knightwalker cannot get married because she's too scary or she's not 'normal'.

"You don't think I already thought of that? I've got everything covered, so don't worry," he told her. "Come over here," he said motioning towards his book shelf. "It's the 3rd book from the right on the top; just pull on it and…" The bookcase moved to reveal a passageway, "Here's the entrance towards our practice room."

Erza stepped through the doorway and took in the dark hallway in front of her. "I've heard about this stuff in books, but secret passages actually exist?"

"Apparently my grandfather enjoyed exploring so he remodeled the entire castle to have some secret passages," he mentioned leading her down the path. "When you get to the fork in the hallways, make a left."

"What happens if I go right by accident?" Erza inquired.

Jellal said nothing as the next few steps echoed throughout the hallway. "Nothing, it's just a waste of your time and a dead end. Just try not to go right." He's lying. She didn't know how, Jellal was actually good at lying, but from his silence, Erza could understand that there's something more to the right path. Still, she kept quiet. There would be another time to look through there. "And here we are."

The wooden door creaked as Jellal opened it, but Erza was absolutely amazed. It was entirely a room dedicated to fighting. There were weapons on one end, mats for hand to hand combat, and it was large so there was enough room to move as one pleased. "We're going to train in here?"

"Well, you can't like that. Gowns get in the way," he stated. Erza glared, but he just smiled. "So will you help me out?"

"Why do you even want to practice something like this anyways? You seem more of a peacemaker than a fighter."

"Well, it'd be bad for a future king to only rely on his soldiers wouldn't it? Besides, it's been forever since I got a decent fight in," he reasoned. "So will it be a yes or no my lady?"

"I love to fight, but call me 'my lady 'again, I kill you," she decided coolly.

"Got it, Erza." It's really strange how he can accept her like this. She's considered cruel and mean, but he waves it all away like it's no big deal. Tolerance is accepted in a leader, but exactly what makes him so tolerant of her? And people around him are tolerable about him too… "You know Erza, if you stare at me too much, I might just have to do something about that~"

"Shut it, pervert!" Erza shouted as she punched him. Well he's tolerable at least 95% of the time...

"Oh my, were you making a move on her Jel-chan?" Faye asked coming through the door with a pile of clothes in front of her. "Should I go now and leave you to do whatever?"

"It's not like that!" Erza denied.

"Not like what?" Coco asked, suddenly popping into the room as well. Why were the nuisances multiplying?

"Erza, calm down. They're harmless…for the most part," Jellal said, sounding less convincing towards the end. "Anyways, they'll both be helping out to ensure that your father and Simon don't find out about these meetings."

"Yep! We'll do our best to make sure that you and the Prince are comfortable and fall in love properly!" But they've already started to do that and quite frankly, he's uncomfortable whenever someone mentions her name and his relationship to her. It's not like they don't have a relationship, it's just difficult to categorize it because they're friends in a sense, but one side also hates the other, but there's sometimes more than friendship, so it's confusing.

Within the blink of an eye, Erza grabbed a sword and pointed it towards Coco, who was on the floor with obvious fear in her eyes. "There is a limit that I have with people's jokes, so do your best not to push that limit," Erza requested/commanded.

"So-Sorry…"

"Now, now, don't fight with each other," Jellal requested. "You'll be seeing a lot more of Coco Erza, especially since she will be handling these duties on her own for a while. Try not to kill her in the process or else I'm not sure I can cover up a murder."

"And where are you going?" Erza asked with suspicion rising in her throat.

"Me? I've got to go wrap up a couple of things, so I won't be in for a bit," Faye explained. "But rest assured, if something happens, I'm sure that Jel-chan can fix it." Erza did not let her guard down with just that. There's something weird going on, but what exactly?

"Now that that's all cleared, why don't we start?"

"First, you need to get out Jel-chan, so Erza-san can get changed," Faye stated obviously, pushing him out. "Make sure you don't peek! I know what kind of influence that Redfox has been having on you. You'd think that he would have been more embarrassed, but he really is like an iron dragon."

"I don't even know Gajeel that well!"

"Just don't peek Jel-chan. Erza-san, make sure you pick out something comfortable so you can move in it easily," Faye called out before going out of the room to keep Jellal company.

"We made sure not to include any skirts," Coco informed. "I think that purple suits you well, Erza-sama."

Erza looked at the huge pile of clothing. She never particularly liked purple, not that she liked other colors any better, especially the lighter one. They always remind her of the itchy dresses that she was forced to wear as a child and whenever some suitor was visiting her. "Do you have anything black?"

"Yep, let me just find that for you." Erza wanted to scratch her head, which still had the black wig on top of it, but she restrained herself for some reason since it felt unsightly. Debating about it for a moment, she took off her wig, allowing her blood colored waves to fall down. She gave a sigh of relief in her mind. It always felt better without the wig. "Erza-sama, here it is."

Erza held out the clothing. It was similar to the clothes that she wore to the bar, but a tad more revealing, not that it mattered to her. Those clothes were so much easier to move around in. Quickly, she changed into the clothes, enjoying the feeling of not having to deal with the obstruction of a long skirt. "Coco, why are you doing something like this?"

"Like what? Assisting the Prince is my job."

"You are close to my brother and his acquaints, are you not?"

"I'm sorry, Erza-sama, but I don't think I understand your point. While I am close to Simon-san and the other generals, I don't see the point in telling anyone that you're training with the Prince. You're free to do as you wish Erza-sama." Such a lie, Erza had no freedom. "Besides, I think that you and the Prince would be a great couple, so this just helps that out as well."

"I don't possess such feelings towards him," Erza stated, but her statement seemed weak. While it's true that she enjoys the freedom that she has around him and she is completely comfortable, that really can't be taken as a feeling of romance can it?

"Well, maybe this stuff can change that!" Does Erza even want it to change? Coco opened the door, "Prince, you're allowed to come back in."

"Well then, ready to fight?"

"I would ask you the same thing." The red head possessed a smile, not a smirk, but a smile. Jellal was happy to see that she was enjoying herself, he could even feel a smile on his face as well.

"Well then, let's start."