Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome back to "The ABCs of Natsu and Erza!" Today's letter is G for Guilt, the second installment in the Cheat Trilogy!

I know, this part focuses more on Jellal, but I wanted to show his feelings on his night with Erza and what it meant for her. Still, I think I encompass all three characters' emotional states quite nicely here. Of course, I wrote this after writing Cheat and before Date, so you can imagine I have no idea what I was thinking at the time of writing. Oh well, I'll shut up so you can enjoy the story.

I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.


Jellal Fernandes never believed in luck. Hell, if you were brainwashed as a child, made to enslave your best friends and family to revive a dark mage that wasn't even dead to begin with, revived with amnesia, taken into custody for crimes you know you committed but literally have no memory of them, and left to rot with only three meals a day for seven years, never knowing whether or not the powers that be decided it was time for you to die, you wouldn't either.

So you can imagine that he didn't know what to call it when, after seven years on the run, Ultear Milkovich had confessed to manipulating him in order to obtain one of the keys to Zeref's seal, though to this day, he had no idea what it could've been. He had long since chalked it up to Ultear's deception.

This turn of events had Jellal released under the custody of Fairy Tail, and basically, he wasn't supposed to leave Magnolia without an S-Class mage of the guild. Erza, of course, had been thrilled.

Erza.

By far, the biggest surprise he had encountered was that Erza had married Natsu and had a daughter. Even though a small part of him had wished she would've waited for him, Jellal knew that he could never ask Erza to do something like that. Not with the fear that he could be dead tomorrow and the Council wouldn't tell her a damn thing.

Jellal was just thankful that the Council that had originally imprisoned him had been forced to disband after Fiore's Parliament had decided that they had violated the trust of the magical community by sending an agent to attempt to disband Fairy Tail, thus targeting a guild that, while notorious for massive property damage, still operated under the fundamental laws that the Magic Council had laid down when it was first formed. Those bastards would've ignored every word Ultear had ever said if it meant he would stay a prisoner.

But back to Erza. She had treated him to a nice dinner in honor of his release and joining Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, she had gotten drunk and, consequentially, very amorous. That was when he decided to take her home – her home.

That was where she had forced herself on him. Guided by seven years of pent-up lust and the part of him that had still wanted her, all he could do was go along.

The pain he had caused her was evident in her voice, and the sound of her sobbing had completely dulled any sense of pleasure he had felt the night before.

Jellal heard a crash from his bed. He looked at the clock, 7:30. It wasn't the middle of the night, but who could want to talk to him this early?

"Jellal! We need to talk!" Natsu's voice called. Jellal sighed. After what had happened, who else could it be?

"Can I at least get dressed first?" he called.

"Fine, but I'm not waiting for a shower!"

"Never mind, I'll just put on a T-shirt!" Jellal took a deep breath. It was time to face the music. Unfortunately for him, the song was "Through the Fire and Flames."


A few minutes later, the two men were seated at Jellal's kitchen table. There was an uncomfortable silence, each daring the other to speak.

Finally, Natsu spoke. "So how was it with Erza?" he asked.

Jellal sighed. Blunt, straight to the point, and not willing to mess around. That was Natsu in a nutshell. "It… it wasn't that great," he said.

"So you think you can do better than my wife?" said Natsu in a slightly raised voice.

"No!" said Jellal hastily. "It was everything I ever wanted! But… there was always this part of me that kept telling me that it was wrong, she was another man's wife, and I should stop."

"Well, why didn't you listen to that part?" Natsu yelled.

"Natsu, please! You have to understand that I was denied physical release for seven years!" said Jellal. "I know that's no excuse – hell, there IS no excuse for sleeping with another man's wife! – but it was inevitable my baser instincts would win out in the end!"

Natsu let Jellal's words sink in for a minute. "My God, they didn't even give you conjugal visits?" he asked.

Jellal shrugged. "I never had a partner other than Ultear, and Siegrain wasn't exactly capable of intercourse." Natsu didn't know whether to laugh at Jellal's comment or bash his head against the table. He cleared his throat, and it was back to the matter at hand.

"Fine. I'm willing to forget you slept with Erza," said Natsu through gritted teeth. "But I'm not willing to forget you made her cry! And to me, that trumps everything!"

Jellal blinked back some tears, but he couldn't hide the sadness in his voice. "No matter what I do," he whispered sadly. "It always seems to end with me causing Erza pain. And it kills me inside to know that!" At this point the tears had started to fall.

Natsu took a good hard look at the sobbing Jellal. Truth be told, he'd thought Jellal was a good guy ever since the Oracion Seis battle. When the Rune Knights took him away, it was like seeing him for the first time. As he fought for Jellal (and by extension, for Erza), he realized Jellal wasn't the type to intentionally make anyone sad. The first few times, he was insane. After Oracion Seis, he had been arrested, so technically that was the Council's fault. And now, Erza cried in shame of the actions she had committed with him the night before last.

"Just don't do it again," said Natsu. "Take care of us, and we'll take care of you. After all, you're part of Fairy Tail now. That makes you our nakama." He smiled his brightest smile as he said that last sentence. And it was all Jellal could do to smile back, amazed at how forgiving Natsu was.

"You have your freedom now, Jellal. Take it, and don't ever look back," said Natsu.

"Of course," replied Jellal. "Now seriously, I really need to shower."


It had been nearly a week since Erza's… ahem… extramarital incident, and Natsu was pretty much back to normal. Erza, however, still had some doubts.

There was no doubt in her mind that she was still in love with Natsu, but she felt it was too soon for him to forgive her. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. And it still baffled her that Natsu forgave not only her, but Jellal, so easily.

The real problem, however, was that she had yet to forgive herself. They usually spent a week at home together before one of them headed off on their next job. Normally, they made the most of it, but Erza had spurned Natsu's advances all week long.

Erza was scheduled to take her turn at doing a job in the morning, and Natsu wanted to make tonight count. As soon as they were in bed, Natsu made an attempt at a hug, which Erza evaded without much trouble.

"C'mon, Baby Red. Don't fight it," he said in a husky tone. He leaned in for a kiss, but Erza punched him in the face with a resounding "NO MEANS NO, IDIOT!"

Natsu groaned in pain as he said, "What the hell, Erza? We never go this long without sex! Well, at least not when we're home."

"I know, Natsu, and I'm sorry, but…" Erza struggled to find the right words. "I'm just not ready yet..."

Natsu frowned. "Is this about… that?" he asked. Erza nodded meekly, causing Natsu to sigh.

"Look, Erza," said Natsu. "You want to forget all about this as much as I do…"

"That's just it, Natsu!" said Erza. "You can deny it all you want, but I can't! I mean, I betrayed you, and it's something I have to live with for the rest of my life! The guilt of my actions will stain my soul until my dying day!"

Natsu rolled his eyes at his wife's melodrama, then spoke. "I know that, you idiot! But I understand! Jellal was your first love, and that's never going to go away no matter how long we stay married. You acted out of passion and so did Jellal. Hell, if you told me I could sleep with Lisanna for one night with no strings attached, I probably would, but…"

At that moment, a light bulb went off in Erza's head. "That's it!" she exclaimed.

"What's it?" asked Natsu.

"I cheated on you, so it's only fair that you cheat on me in return!" said Erza.

"…You want me to cheat on you… with Lisanna?" asked a dumbfounded Natsu. "No! No, I'm not gonna do it!"

"But you just said-"

"I know what I just said!" yelled Natsu. "But I won't do it out of revenge! I don't need revenge! I just need the knowledge that you love me! And I love you, so I'll hold back until you're ready to move on from this! But let me just say, there's never been a problem you were afraid to face, so why should this be any different?" With that, Natsu rolled over on his side and started to fall asleep.

"Why should this be any different?" Erza thought to herself. "Why is this any different from every other problem I've faced?" With that thought, Erza smiled and drifted off to sleep.

She knew what she had to do.


BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

So I lost my iPod on Sunday. My cousin's graduation party was then, and I almost brought it for the ride, but my dad managed to talk me out of it, so I didn't. When I got home, it was nowhere to be found! I mean, I know it's in my room somewhere, but I've literally checked all over, and I still have yet to find it.

But not only does this mean I now have to put up with my parents' pointless blather about real estate and interior design on long car trips, I also lost my original set of prompts. Some of them I had plans for, like for example, W, but most of which I didn't, so I was forced to come up with new prompts on Word.

Protip: Save your ideas on a computer, not a mobile device.

Either way, the big lemon is up next. That is, unless I chicken out, in which case you'll get a sequel to Edolas, though I may try to work it in somewhere down the line anyway. Gonna have to hit AFF for ideas during the week, so that, of course, will be fun, except not really.

So whatever I do, peace and love from Nightlingbolt until the next time I post. Bye!