For the rest of dinner Jellal pushed the food around on his plate quietly and ignored the polite conversation of those around him. His body may have been at the table, but his mind was back in India. At first he had loved it, mostly because it was nothing like England and at the time that was exactly what he needed. The colors were brighter, the sounds louder, the smells more fragrant, and the food rich and delicious; there was so little to remind him of home. It was like living in a whole new world and after the taxing end of his teens, he needed it. He decided he would leave the past behind, start anew. Unfortunately, it wasn't a change for the better, if anything the move only pushed him further from goodness, to a version of himself that he would look back on with revulsion and shame.

If you were to ask Erik or any of his family to try and pinpoint the beginning of Jellal's downward spiral, they would probably guess it was just before seventeen when his father left. Most would assume it would take something as extreme as being abandoned to destitution by the person who was supposed to protect you for one to grow dark and cold. However, if you asked his valet Richard, he would give a different answer. For he knew that his young master lost his smile the moment that bit of red hair disappeared into the woods. From that day forward all efforts at cheer were forced, all humor was dark, and days were spent alone in melancholy introspection.

It was because of the loss of his sunshine that Jellal was of no use to his mother that fateful day when instead of her husband at the breakfast table she found a note. Maybe if he had his little cheerful friend he would have had words of support for her instead of telling his mother that surely she should have seen this coming. Maybe when his father's lenders came to let them know they no longer had a house he could have done something more than coldly watch her beg them for more time. Maybe he could have shown some enthusiasm about the move to her brother's in Scotland. Maybe he could have stopped her from taking her life only a few month's after their move.

He would always regret not being a better son during her last few months but instead of inspiring Jellal to be better it turned him colder. Through the generosity of the Duke, he finished his last year at Harrow with Laxus, but he ended up fighting more than studying. So when the Duke offered to pay his way through University, Jellal politely turned the offer down. He refused to waste another man's money becoming a man he no longer desired to be. University was what his father had wanted for him so it was vile, and he was tired of dealing with the gossip and jibs of young men whose biggest hardship was getting grease on their favorite silk tie.

Jellal was impatient. He wanted to see the world, not learn about it in books. So when his cousin Erik spoke of an uncle looking to take advantage of a weakening in the East India company, Jellal was immediately ready to pack his bags. He couldn't wait to see the world. He was going to make his own way and finally become a man of import using his own two hands.

He spent a year working with Erik's Uncle Brain. In the beginning it seemed like fate, Jellal thought he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Brain taught him more about trade, languages, and fighting than schooling ever could, and Jellal learned quickly. Together they tore through their competitors, quickly taking a good chunk of the trade in tea, opiates, and silk. With the ships purchased with Laxus' money, he paid his friend back tenfold within the year. Jellal should have noticed the building resentment and distrust that was simmering below Brain's calm surface but he was too focused on their success and the cash flow coming in. Jellal was so sure of his own importance that it never occurred to him that Brain might consider him a threat and cut him loose.

The day it all came crashing down Jellal willingly walked to his own demise. Brain gave him an address for a possible supplier of spices and fabrics from the far East and asked him to handle it by himself. This should have been the first sign that things were wrong, Brain would never let Jellal go to something like that on his own, but Jellal was arrogant and took it as a sign of his growth. He thought Brain was finally taking him seriously.

The large men guarding the door let Jellal through, giving him about the same attention they would to a fly. It was the first thing that made Jellal uncertain. Then when he entered the main room, everything was dark and choked with incense. He called out a hesitant "hello?" and listened, his breath trapped in his throat. When only silence answered his call, he quickly put himself on guard but there was little he could do against the four well-trained fighters that set upon him in the next moment. All Jellal managed was an elbow to one man's groin and a finger in another man's eye before he was completely subdued, his face smashed into the dirt.

"Mr. Fernandes, how kind of you to finally grace us with your presence." The last person he expected to appear was a woman. Her face was cast mostly in darkness, but one sharp eye was revealed by the tiniest sliver of light from a crack in the shuttered window. "Brain tells me that you are the reason I am losing some of my best suppliers."

Jellal knew showing fear never got you anywhere, especially on this side of the world. So he grinned up towards her and said, "Ah, so you're not a future partner then. Brain must have given me the wrong house."

The pinch to the corner of her eye revealed her frown. "You don't seem to be very quick on the uptake."

"Madame, I'm sorry for troubling you and your men during . . .whatever it was you were doing with four men in the dark," Jellal quipped. "If you will just release me I promise I will just go on my merry way, all wrongs forgotten."

"Oh, no. You didn't interrupt us. We were waiting for you," the woman said.

Jellal tried to look up at the man grinding his cheek into the dirt. "Five men then? Seems a bit greedy if you ask me." The woman's eye narrowed and Jellal received a sharp blow to the back of the head. Jellal scowled and gave a huff of annoyance before adding, "Perhaps I did happen to take a bit of your pie but I can assure you, I never took anything that didn't want to be taken." One of the woman's guards jammed a knee hard into his back and unbidden his throat released a groan of pain. Jellal cut his eyes at the guard and caught the glint of the man's silver tooth. He scowled and muttered under his breath, "When I have the chance, you will be first."

"But there won't be a chance Mr. Fernandes," the woman said. "I don't know why you are trying to act so cavalier. You should be begging for mercy and denouncing Brain, as he is the one who put you right in my clutches. I'm well aware that you are both responsible for my . . .inconvenience. No matter what the old scorpion pretends." She grinned wide and torches suddenly lit up the room revealing brightly dyed fabrics draped around the chamber and a woman with hair the shade of onyx seated on her own golden throne. Jellal's heart dropped when he realized it was far more than four men that he would have to fight through to get out the door. There was at least another dozen along the surrounding walls. The woman seemed to notice his discouragement and she delighted in it. Her trill of laughter sent a chill down his spine. "It is of little import, he will be dealt with soon and you are mine now Mr. Fernandes. From this day forward you will do as I say and only as I say if you wish to remain a whole."

Jellal remembered thinking she was quite beautiful for such a callous bitch before her men flipped him on his back and forced him to look straight up at the dark clay ceiling. He tried to struggle but their hands were just too strong. The hot metal brand came just as fast as his assault and he had no way to turn away from it. He didn't feel the pain at first, he was too shocked by the heat and the smell. When the pain came it was all-encompassing, the world around him disappeared and his senses were flooded with absolute agony. Luckily it was only for a moment and then his world went black.


Thanks kccb16 for looking things over

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wordslinger, An Amber Pen, edasama, quite-a-riot, Cheschire-Kaat, and Juvia is my spirit animal