A/N: We are advised that we can choose any theme we like for Day 8 and "Trust" is my choice.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima dose.


Jellal was all alone in Crime Sorciere's guild building and found the quietness didn't make him feel exactly comfortable. For one, he had got used to the sounds of quarrelling, teasing and laughter from his members which made the dark world he was locked in due to his blindness less lonely and livelier. For two, his hearing had become more sensitive now after he lost his eyesight that eerier sound of silence had become more ear piercing to him.

Not that it would make him feel regret for demanding all his members to go to investigate a rumor about some dark guilds trying to rebuild the Tower of Heaven to revive Zeref though. And he smiled remembering how Meredy had refused to leave him alone in the beginning. Although being the Master of his guild he was recognized as powerful and intelligent, Meredy didn't always trust his ability of caring for himself due to his blindness like an overprotective sister to him. He had to remind her that this wouldn't be the first time for him to stay in the guild by himself and that he had lived in darkness for over a year now that he was absolutely capable of living alone to eventually convince Meredy to join the operation.

It should take at least a few more days for his members to return with the information he requested them to collect for him to analyze and formulate strategies, Jellal predicted, and he could do nothing exact waiting at the moment. Trying not to think about how useless he was at times like this, he decided to occupy himself with some training.

Grabbing a staff in his right hand, Jellal walked to the front door of the guild. But before he pulled open the door, he heard that there was someone approaching the guild. He was certain that the sound of the steps didn't belong to any of his members, but it was familiar to him. He listened more carefully, and recognized the sound of boots scraping the cobblestone path outside and the small and low metallic sound from the contact between metals.

He opened the door. Breeze gently ran through his blue locks while bringing along a certain sweet scene which he missed.

"Erza?"

"Hi, Jellal." Erza's voice was soft. Jellal could imagine her saying his name with a gentle smile on her lips, which naturally brought up a small smile on his lips too.

"You gave me a nice surprise, Erza. I haven't expected any guest to come. What bring you to Crime Sorciere suddenly?"

"Meredy sent a message to me the day before. She told me that you planned on staying here alone while they went on mission and asked me to come to see you if I had time, just in case you need any help."

Jellal shook his head and his smile turned into an embarrassed one.

"Meredy was a little bit overacted sometimes. I'm sorry for the trouble she caused you. But I am perfectly fine to handle my daily life. So, you don't need to worry about me."

Jellal didn't hear an immediate response from Erza. He couldn't tell her emotions by reading the expression on her face either. It made him feel a little bit nervous not knowing what she was thinking right now.

A sigh from Erza broke the silence.

"I know that you are very independent and strong, Jellal, that you can live by yourself under no matter what circumstances. I told Meredy the same. But maybe I come to see you simply because…I miss you?" Another sigh. "I haven't seen you for half a year already."

"Y-yes, y-you're right." Jellal couldn't help but panic a little as Erza sounded like being hurt. "I guess you don't really need any special reason to go to see a friend."

"You're right. We're friends, as always, aren't we?" Erza chuckled dryly. Jellal would be lying if he said he didn't notice the bitterness in her voice. But what could he do other than staying in Erza's friendzone? His blindness simply added one more reason besides his sins and guilt to explain why he wasn't the ideal man for Erza.

"Anyway. Are you going out to somewhere? Mind if I accompany you?"

Jellal snapped out of his own thought hearing Erza spoke again after a short pause.

"I'm thinking to do some training." He answered candidly.

"Training?" The light and expectant tone in Erza's voice told Jellal that she was quite interested in what he planned to do. "Can I join? It's more effective to practice your skills by having an opponent to fight with you."

"I certainly agree with your point. But, Erza, I'm afraid that I may accidentally hurt you in the training as I can't see now."

"What's the problem of getting hurt in a training session?" Erza ended her question with a light chuckle as if she found Jellal's worry was funny.

"When I practiced with Natsu and Gray, we all got bruises from one another's attacks. But that was fine because we knew that we didn't hurt our comrades with the intention to kill them. That was only how we found out our weaknesses so that we could improve ourselves next time." Erza's voice was unwavering while she elaborated her views, which wasn't a surprise to Jellal as he always knew that Erza was firm in what she believed.

"So don't worry about hurting me in the training. I may open some wounds on your body too. But I trust that we won't injure each other more than necessary since we are both experienced and skillful fighters." Jellal could almost see Erza smiling confidently at him. And he was amazed by her trust in him.

He had to admit that Erza had her points. However, he still found it difficult to accept her suggestion.

"But I don't want to hurt you in any way, any more. I already hurt you more than enough in the past."

"You need to get over our past, Jellal. And put some faith in me and in yourself too that we won't cause any unnecessary harm to each other when our fight only serves the purpose of improving our strength." Erza said determinately and grasped Jellal's hand which was not holding the staff. "Let's go. Tell me where your training field is."

It took Jellal some time to let Erza's words sink in his heart and when he did, he couldn't suppress a relieved chuckle from leaving his mouth. The woman never stopped amazing him with the strong will she displayed when dealing with their unpleasant history. She had such a beautiful and generous heart that even he had failed her trust in him more than one time in the past that she could still believe in him so unconditionally. He really wanted to treasure the trust she put in him and not to disappoint her again.

"Thanks for your trust, Erza. It means a lot to me." He squeezed Erza's hand a bit harder to express his gratefulness as he couldn't display his feeling through his eyes anymore. "There's a cobblestone path on the right side of the guild building. Follow it to the end and it's where Crime Sorciere's training field locates at. It takes about 20 minutes of walk."

It was the first time for both Erza and Jellal to fight with each other in a training session. They both started cautiously as Erza wasn't sure how much Jellal's fighting skills had been affected by his blindness while Jellal was still reluctant to launch attacks at Erza which bought back some bad memories to him. But not long Erza started getting more serious seeing how smoothly and effortlessly Jellal was able to dodge her attacks. Jellal tried to keep on using defensive strategy to either block or dodge Erza's attacks without fighting back but soon he felt a number of cuts left on his arms and legs by Erza's swords.

"Jellal, I believe you can do more than just dodge my attacks!" Erza shouted and flied some more swords at Jellal.

Jellal rolled over on the ground to get away from the flying swords. He gritted his teeth knowing that Erza was definitely not taking the training in a hasty and superficial manner. Remembering Erza's words and trust, he launched some magic beams at Erza's direction with new determination once he stepped on the ground again. He then heard the sound of his attacks crashed to metals but not screaming. He therefore judged that Erza had blocked his attacks successfully.

"That's it Jellal! We should make good use of this training!" Erza sounded sincerely happy and excited, which truly lessened the worries restraining Jellal from fighting with his real power.

"Be prepared for my next attack, Erza." He grinned.

They tried out different combinations of attack and defense and adjusting their strategies from time to time. There were times when Jellal got panic when hearing Erza whined or cried that he tried to run to Erza fearing he might have hurt her more than he intended to but he was always stopped by Erza's counterattack.

And as the training went on, Jellal found his level of concentration dropped. Without his eyesight, he depended largely on his hearing and reflex to react to the happenings around him but it exhausted his mind over a long period of time. When facing a real enemy, he therefore would try to end the fight as quick as possible. But the training wasn't about defeating your opponent quickly but was about perfecting one's skills that it lasted longer than Jellal used to fight in a real battle, which put his ability to always keep his mind focused on test.

Finally, their training ended when Jellal successfully avoid Erza's spear but failed to block her leg from kicking him and knocked him to the ground. Jellal felt Erza's weight on him when she straddled his waist before he noticed that she had also pinned his right hand on the ground, grasping his wrist.

Jellal couldn't help but feel nostalgia as memory of him being held down in a similar way by Erza in the Tower rushed back to him.

"You win this fight, Erza." Words slipped out his mouth automatically.

Erza tightened her fingers wrapped around his wrist for a short moment before she slowly released her hold.

"I did." She spoke softly. "But you enjoyed the fight nonetheless, didn't you?"

Jellal had no doubt that Erza was a great opponent to fight with. She possessed the power and skills which matched his, which made fighting her a challenging but also an interesting and exciting experience.

"I did. I never would have thought that I could have a friendly match with you as nice as this one."

"There's a lot of thing you can achieve, Jellal, if only you can believe in yourself." Jellal wondered if Erza was smiling while speaking before he felt Erza's soft and warm palm press against his cheek gently. "You have already shown me that with resolution and confidence you were able to look past our history to accept my challenge in our training. I hope that you can remember these feelings that one day, you can also overcome the obstacles, be it your guilt or your blindness, which prevents you from reaching out to what you truly desire in your heart."

"Erza, you always did your best to encourage me." Jellal grasped Erza's hand placed on his cheek and sighed. She was so close to him yet he still felt that he was so far away from her. "But I honestly don't know if I would be able to do what you suggested."

"Don't doubt yourself. I'm sure you can." Erza said firmly. "Nothing's unreachable if you have faith and are willing to put effort in making thing happen."

Jellal then felt something touched his lips, lightly and quickly, which made his heart skip a beat.

"Also don't forget that you have my support too." Erza whispered softly.

"Thank you." Jellal responded in a low but sincere voice. He couldn't repress the new hope of being with Erza from growing in his heart after hearing Erza's words. "I'll try to clear the obstacles in my way to my target. Please give me some time."

"Sure! And I…I hope that I could hear good news from you soon." Jellal didn't fail to notice how Erza sounded from excited to timid while speaking of her expectation. "But now, let's go back to your guild to have our wounds treated first."

Erza withdrew her hand from Jellal's grasp before standing up. Feeling her weight on his body vanished, Jellal sat up. Erza then grabbed his hands and pulled him up from the sitting position.

"Erza. Did I…hurt you badly anywhere?" Jellal asked once he stood on the ground, feeling the pain at his abdomen which had received a kick from Erza before.

"Well, there are some bruises and cuts here and there on my body but nothing serious."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm. Just trust me and believe in what I told you, okay?" Erza held Jellal's hand firmly in hers.

"Okay." Jellal answered after a moment of pause with a relieved smile.

He would always trust her because between the two of them, she was always the honest one who spoke the truth.


A/N: My heartfelt thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and/or followed these oneshots written for Jerza Week 2014.