A/N: There! THREE chapters because I love you all. And know the anxiety of waiting too long for chapters with cliff hangers. But mostly because I love you. So. I was going to wait to post this, build up some hype and anxiety, but then I remembered something very important. I have next to no self control. Lucky you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
The doors to the guild swung open and the entire hall fell silent within a few minutes. The looks of horror on Ultear's and Meredy's faces were enough to tell him what had just come through the doors, but Jellal slowly turned around in his seat anyways. Lahar, Dorobolt, and the platoon of rune knights behind the two were standing just far enough inside the guild for the doors to swing closed behind them.
"Well this certainly is an unexpected turn of events." Lahar stated as his eyes fell upon the trio of fugitives in front of him. He took another step forwards with Doranbolt in tow and Jellal felt as Erza slid closer to him on the bench in response.
Lahar was scowling disapprovingly over the bridge of his nose, but Doranbolt looked more surprised than anything else. At the sight of the fugitives, the rune knights immediately moved forward as if to rush and arrest the three, but Lahar raised a hand, causing them to stop in their tracks. Many of the knights were left with a cross of either anger or confusion on their faces.
"We came here today to relay the finalized judgment decided upon by the magic council against Jellal Fernandes, Ultear Milkovich, and Meredy Milkovich to Fairy Tail, as all official guilds are required to be informed, but it looks like we will be here to pass out the punishment as well." Lahar announced coolly.
Jellal knew what the judgment would be without Lahar having to pull a scroll out from his robes to read the official verdict, the whole gruesome truth. Though he had thought he would be ok with accepting death for his crimes with a calm mind before, a lot had changed within the past week and he now felt his heart fluttering madly in anticipation and contradiction. He considered pleading on the spot that Ultear and Meredy be let go, that everything was his fault as well as deny any claims that Fairy Tail had to him in order to protect the guild. That plan seemed fairly hopeless as well. He knew his sentence would be death or life imprisonment either way and that there was essentially nothing he could do anymore to make his case any worse. With that in mind, he seriously considered either fighting with the hopes that Ultear and Meredy could sneak away before he was taken down or he could make a run for it to draw the soldiers away his guild mates. He was willing to bet that he was fast enough to buy them enough time to get out of the city limits, but probably not much more than that. As if she had read his mind, Ultear leaned forward ever so slightly over the table and barely whispered loud enough for him to hear.
"Don't you even dare, Fernandes."
Before he could even begin to contemplate a retort, Lahar began reading and every eye and ear turned in attention.
"It is within ordinance that an absolute judgment be made upon fugitives Jellal Fernandes, Ultear Milkovich, and Meredy Milkovich. Between the three aforementioned, there has been accusations and proof of the following: infiltrating the magic council with intentions of bringing destruction upon the land of Fiori, disgracing the title of wizard saint, both murder and attempted mass murder. . ."
By this point Jellal had long since bowed his head in shame. Just what he needed: to have almost every single mistake he had ever made in his life thrown back in his face. Erza's hand nudged against his that was closest to her and he allowed her to intertwine her fingers with his. She squeezed his hand in gentle reassurance causing him to raise his head back up every so slightly. For her. Only would he do it for her.
"Both murder and attempted murder, being members of both dark and illegal guilds, the attempted revival of black mage Zeref, forming an illegal guild and operating as such for an extended period of time, and finally the mass destruction of government, public, and private civilian property without compensation."
Lahar paused to look directly at Jellal. Jellal looked back at the man wearily, waiting to hear which hell they intended to put him through for his crimes.
"However,"
Jellal's head shot up straight and his brow furrowed in confusion; Meredy and Ultear sporting similar reactions,
"it has also been brought to the council's attention by Mr. Fernandes's and the Milkovichs' defendants the full circumstances of which the crimes prior stated were committed as well as their service to the kingdom, the crown, and its people."
He couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't believe that this was real and this was happening. He didn't even know that the three of them had or even got to have defendants for this trial in the first place. Jellal risked quickly turning around to glance Ultear and Meredy, who looked just as stunned as he was sure he looked, before turning to Erza with a questioning glance. To his surprise, she also looked confused. Catching his eye, she shook her head in verifying response to the silent question. Amazed, he turned back to Lahar, who had taken a pause for him to digest the words.
"And so, the council's verdict is this:
Jellal Fernandes, Ultear Milkovich, and Meredy Milkovich cannot be allowed to continue traveling around the country unmonitored as an independent guild due to the circumstances of their pasts."
Jellal's heart sank at the words. Of course. He should have known better than to expect anything but this, his head dropping as he stared down at his boots. To believe his hope had been so high only a few seconds ago. He had so many questions. Would they let him say goodbye to Erza? Would she be in big trouble because of him? After all, it was obvious that Fairy Tail had housed them now. He did not have a lot of possessions or money, but would they at least give him the respect of getting to write and have fulfilled a will?
"Though it is also due to their past upbringings and actions that has brought the council to reconsider its previous, unfinalized ruling. So there have been some adjustments made.
Firstly: Crime Sorciere, the aforementioned unofficial guild, must be disbanded effective immediately.
Secondly: All members of said former guild, Jellal Fernandes, Ultear Milkovich, and Meredy Milkovich, must join an official guild immediately. They will be given one week's time, starting today, to arrange this transition. It must be made known to the decided guild of the circumstances surrounding joining and accepted that the guild will take responsibility for any crimes committed by them in the future. Government officials will be sent at the end of the allotted time period to ensure that every part of this requirement has been carried out.
Thirdly: Should any of the three commit any crime above the level of a misdemeanor, then they will be arrested and retrialed immediately. Should they attempt to run, then their case will be decided by the council without a trial
Should all of these conditions be carried out, then Jellal Fernandes, Ultear Milkovich, and Meredy Milkovich shall no longer be considered a threat to the council and will be aloud to function as normal members within society."
Lahar finished, rolling the scroll back up making it vanish within his cloak again.
"It will also be announced to the public that you three are no longer considered criminals." Doranbolt added.
"Yes, that fact will also be communicated to the masses." Lahar confirmed. With that, the rune knight dispersed, exiting the hall.
Lahar turned back at the door. "And just this once, only because of the council's ruling, I'm going to overlook what was going on before we got here." He said flatly, looking first at Jellal and then at Makarov before disappearing into the city once more.
Jellal was dumbstruck. He sat, mouth slightly agape and gawking at the point from where the man who had been hunting him for the past eight years had vanished, declaring him a free man. He tried to stand, to follow them and ask them again what exactly it was that had just been said to him. His legs had another idea, immediately collapsing beneath him when he tried to move and bringing him so his knees.
"This is. . ." Ultear trailed off.
"THIS IS A REASON TO CELEBRATE!" Natsu finished loudly from across the guild, finally breaking the silence. The guild followed in his action, letting loose cheers and whoops, swarming their newly freed friends. Before Jellal could fully recognize what was happening, he felt himself pulled to his feet by a sea of hands and then was promptly swarmed. The entire guild was focused on only the three former fugitives at the moment, forgetting all else as they rushed forwards to congratulate them with hugs and pats on the back. Meredy and Ultear seemed to be getting a similar treatment to what Jellal was getting: being brought to their feet and felicitated by every single member of the guild. It was nearly half an hour before everyone had settled down enough for the party to officially begin. The crowds dispersing from around him, he was glad to see Erza weaving her way through the remaining stragglers and up to him. Not stopping in front of him, she immediately grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, which he gladly returned.
After a moment, Erza pulled back and asked the completely foolish and unnecessary question that had been burning on her mind.
"So which guild are you going to go t-"
"I'm staying here." He immediately stated decisively. And then a little bit more timidly, "I would like to stay with Fairy Tail."
"So would we." Ultear added, notifying them what she and Meredy had already decided. "And besides, it's going to be a full time job making sure that you don't screw this relationship up by having a relapse."
"Trust me, that's not going to be a problem." Jellal smiled. "But thanks."
Jellal turned his attention back to Erza and bent his head down close to hers, stopping for just a moment to make sure that she showed no sign of hesitation, before pressing his lips gently against hers. How uncharacteristically bold, he thought to himself about the action, but then again Fairy Tail did seemed to be filled with courageous members and being with them, being with Erza, made him feel the same. In the background he heard some of the other guild members whistle and give catcalls, sure that Ultear had made some witty comment to Meredy and that both of them would be teasing him later. He drew back to find her blushing intensely and he could feel the familiar heat present on his own face.
"S-sorry." He mumbled, looking down nervously.
"No. It's alright: that was g-good." Erza stuttered, her face quickly turning from surprised to gracing an embarrassed smile while her face was still deeply flushed.
"Well it looks like you two are settling in nicely already."
Jellal and Erza turned to see Makarov smirking at the two of them. "If I could just borrow Jellal for a minute, as well as Meredy and Ultear, I believe it's time for them to get their Fairy Tail marks. Don't worry. I'll bring him right back to you when I'm done." The master added, causing the two mages to blush.
And so a party ensued. Of all Fairy Tail parties, this certainly had to be considered the mother of many as it lasted all day and went well into the night. Since they were no longer hiding from the law, the landlady of Fairy Hills had made it clear that she wanted Jellal out of her dorms by that night or else. Thankfully, Lucy notified the trio that there was an apartment open for renting in her building. Ultear and Meredy slipped away to check it, returning not over an hour later while holding the keys to it triumphantly. The former members of Crime Sorciere had all agreed to stay roommates with the shared apartment, at least for the time being. It was perfectly fine with Jellal: the apartment was more than big enough for the three of them judging by the price of the portion he had to pay for it, he was already well used to the other two girls by now since he considered them to be his only immediate family, and quite honestly he figured that he would miss them if he didn't see them around every so often. It took them a solid fifteen minutes to move all of the stuff in to the large apartment and decide on bedrooms. The place came furnished with only two beds with room for a third in a guest room, so Jellal opted to sleep on the couch until they had time to go and get him a bed of his own. When this was all settled, the three of them returned to party with the rest of their guild.
Eventually all of the members of Fairy Tail, both new and old, began going their separate ways and returning home. Even though he knew that she didn't need the protection, Jellal walked with Erza up to the steps of Fairy Hills before saying farewell to her and leaving for his own apartment.
It was once again that Erza was awoken by someone in the middle of the night, not that she had had much luck getting to sleep in the first place. However, unlike last time the knocking was not coming from her door. She slid out of bed, feeling as excited as a child on Christmas as she heard another pebble bounce off of her window. She opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony. Walking to the banister she peaked out over it and smiled at who she saw.
"Can I come up?" Jellal asked, a gentle smile forming on his face as well as she appeared. Erza nodded and watched as the man quickly pulled himself up in to a nearby tree, climbing to meet her.
"You could have just used meteor to get up here." The red head chuckled, extending a hand to the celestial body mage as he reached branch that was level with where she was. In a swift movement the blue haired man jumped down, landing beside her with ease. "There's much less of a chance that you would fall and break your neck while doing so."
"But what fun would that be?" Jellal grinned back. He took her hand in his and smiled even wider. This was good, better than he ever previously thought he deserved or would achieve. He still didn't think he was worthy of her, but now he was determined to live every day in pursuit of making her happy and that made him feel deserving enough to be happy.
The two stood in both a comfortable and awkward silence, both wanting to speak and neither wanting to break the spell as they looked up at the stars from her balcony.
"It's barely been an hour since I last saw you." She stated, her eyes moving from the stars to his face to see his reaction.
"I know." He replied. She could see a blush creeping across his face. "I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. Eight years on my own and after a barely a week I can't fall asleep without knowing you're beside me and will be there when I wake up. I'm afraid that if I do I will only wake up to find that it was all a dream." He chuckled sheepishly.
"I know. I feel the same." Erza replied, referring to how she had acted upon waking up to not find Jellal on the night he had gotten sick. "It's cold without you." She muttered after a moment.
Before Erza could comprehend, she felt as something heavy was dropped down on her shoulders.
"Now you won't be cold without me." Jellal responded, smiling down at Erza as she drowned beneath his cloak. "And this way we'll also be sure that when we wake up that this wasn't all a dream. Now we should both probably go get some sleep."
"Yeah. Tomorrow should be an interesting day. Plus you don't want to give Ultear and Meredy yet another reason to tease you if they found out that you came here in the dead of night." She reminded.
"See you tomorrow?" Jellal asked hopefully as he let go of her hand and climbed up on to the ledge.
"See you tomorrow." Erza smiled in conformation.
With that, Jellal jumped backwards off the ledge, activating meteor and speeding away. Erza brought the coat around her tighter and slipped back inside her cool apartment.
A/N: So I waited this long for the "free from the law" development because I felt like Jellal would have to feel free from his sins first before he would be able to accept freedom from the law. That seems reasonable, right? But really, 3 chapters over the course of 24 hours has killed me.