Chapter 10
Erza forced Jellal into a chair, glaring him down with a look that just might be able to kill.
"Be gentler with him" Makarov scolded lightly "He…" he dropped the oddly shaped bottle containing the truth serum upon sighting Jellal "…looks just like Siegrain"
"They're twins" Erza told him, bending over rather quickly to catch the bottle before it could break "Evil twins" Jellal snickered, amused by this in spite of the current situation "Now…" She forced the mouth of the bottle up against Jellal's lips "Come on"
Jellal looked up at Erza. She looked serious. Resigning himself to his fate, he swallowed a mouthful of the vile tasting substance. It kept him from lying, but it didn't force him to speak.
"Erza, he only needs to take that much. We'll be long done with him before the effects wear off." Makarov took the bottle away.
"…yes, master" Erza said
Lucy burst in gasping for air "Don't… hurt… wait…" she took a deep breath "Is Jellal alright?"
"I don't know why you care" He told her.
"You're not hurt?"
"Physically"
"Good… what?"
Jellal would have sworn, but that wouldn't have been the truth, and therefore a lie. Instead, he made a mental note to keep his mouth shut like he'd initially planned too.
"Alright, Jellal" Erza leaned in a little closer "How long have you been pregnant?" Jellal said nothing. Erza grabbed his arm and twisted, getting a few rather weak protests from Lucy and Makarov. Since it was later than the guild tavern was really open for, no one else was around "Come on. How long?"
"N-nine weeks and three days" Jellal said, feeling embarrassed for having kept track "I think"
Erza twisted a little more "You think?"
"It's not like I know what exactly caused it. That's just my best guess."
"That would be June 27th…" Lucy said more to herself than to the other three "When we were bringing down the bandits in Era…"
Erza released Jellal's arm. Jellal snapped it back so that she couldn't grab it again. "that hurt"
"Good. Next question. Answer this one right away and I won't have to hurt you again. What's your 'guess' on how you got pregnant?"
Jellal was reminded of his lectures with Yajima as he said this one "I… I was trying to use lost magic and I messed one of the spells up"
"What was the spell supposed to do?" Lucy asked, figuring this one wouldn't hurt.
"It was supposed to affect a person's gravity. Make them repel things instead of attract." Jellal explained shortly. He'd probably regret saying that in a few seconds, but at the moment it didn't seem like to big a deal.
"Who's the father?" Erza demanded. Jellal looked away. "Jellal…?" No response "Don't make me…" Erza grabbed his other arm and twisted it behind his back. Jellal growled slightly "Who's the father?" She applied more pressure. A lot more. Jellal whimpered slightly, but didn't speak "Come on…" the bone in his arm cracked.
"Erza stop that!" Makarov ordered. Erza grudgingly released Jellal's arm. Jellal shifted it so that it was in front of him like it ought to be. He rubbed the sore spot while Makarov began lecturing Erza "Regardless of what sort of past you two had, you can't just go throwing your power around like that. You could seriously injure him and kill the child"
"I don't care"
"You should" Jellal told her.
"See? He can only speak the truth right now"
"If I know who the father is, we can probably dump him off on them!" Erza said "Even if not, this is the most important piece of information that he hasn't shared with us."
"If you care that much, making him have the rest of the potion will make it harder for him to hold his tongue"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Erza demanded, forcing the bottle to Jellal's mouth again.
"It takes longer to wear off this way… I didn't think you'd resort to violence…" Makarov said. In truth, he'd been hoping to slip the rest of the serum into the drinks at the guild and watch everything play out after that. But he couldn't stand for having her attack someone.
"This is Erza" Lucy pointed out, slightly sympathetically.
They quieted down and watched Erza try to force feed Jellal. It wasn't until she plugged his nose to prevent him from breathing that he actually drank the rest of the serum. She set the bottle back down while Jellal refilled his lungs with air. "Now, who's the other parent"
"Y…" Jellal bit his tongue.
"Breaking your other arm might be a pretty effective way this time around…" Erza said, getting dangerously close.
Jellal blushed "Y… you are, alright!"
Erza spun around "M-master…?"
"You had him drink the whole serum. I highly doubt he'll be able to lie for weeks, definitely not right now."
"I-I… how… but…" Erza looked back at Jellal "you…"
"I'm not happy about it either" he told her "In fact, you have no right to be upset about it in front of me. A psycho like you is the last person I'd want to be stuck having a kid with, and, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the one who's actually having the kid."
empty minded look on her face, but she was really thinking about karma and how she'd have to look into it more.
She looked back at Jellal again "How'd you even cast your freaky baby spell on me?"
"Through Siegrain"
"So he was watching with Ultear…" Erza growled "He's lucky he has his council member status or I'd-"
"So your brother just left her there unconscious? I mean, Ultear?"
"Yeah. So? No one really likes her that much" Jellal said. This would have been a great chance to fold his arms, but his left arm was broken.
"No one?" Erza asked
"No one on the council. She's something of a vixen."
"And Siegrain told you this?" Makarov sounded slightly suspicious
"No" Jellal had to come up with a quick save for this one "I saw it myself"
"You've seen the council in action?"
"Yup"
"I think that's enough questions" Lucy interrupted "I should take Jellal home and-"
"Hold it" Makarov stopped her "Didn't you hear what Erza said? We should dump him off onto the father"
"…What?"
"NO!"
"She'll kill me!"
"Family ought to be together. I'm sure it'll be a wonderful experience for these two" there was a sort of malicious twinkle in Makarov's eyes. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to the child if it's raised by only one of its parents"
"I'd be a little more worried about it being fair to the child to have this demon-" Jellal jabbed a finger at Erza "-as a parent. The thing'd be pretty messed up by the time it was old enough to think to run away"
"That's enough out of you" Erza hit him over the head.
Makarov sighed "Well, this isn't working perfectly. Lucy, you stay with the two of them for a week or two. Long enough for them to bury the hatchet. Make sure their interactions are non-violent"
"Um…"
"I'll pay your rent next time you're in a jam" Makarov said "Just do it"
"Alright" Lucy smiled and hurried Jellal and Erza outside.
"You're the daughter of that rich man who owns virtually all the railways in Fiore, right? Why can't you just dip into your family's fortune if you struggle with rent?"
"I'm not relying on that man" Lucy said
"How'd you know that?" Erza demanded
"I looked into the records of all the members of Fairy Tail back in Era." Jellal said.
"Because Siegrain let you?"
"No" crap. How could he excuse that one without lying?
"Did another member let you?"
"N…not exactly"
"So you were looking at them without permission"
"I had permission"
"From who?"
"…"
"Jellal…" Erza's voice had promised a broken leg if he didn't say something.
"Siegrain looked at the records. I found it out from him"
"Didn't you say you looked at the records?" Lucy asked.
"I-I did, but…"
"So who looked at them, you or Siegrain?" she asked
"Come on, Jellal, speak." Erza ordered.
Jellal was silent.
Lucy frown, and pulled him away from Erza "Excuse us for a second" She ducked behind a bush, pulling him down with her "Okay, tell me something I can stretch just enough to make Erza layoff"
"Why are you even bothering?"
"I don't want her to hurt you again"
"Why? She kind of has a right to. I ruined her life"
"I figured you'd done something to her." Lucy admitted "But Simon said something about being your old good self again" That, and she thought he was kind of cute, but he was the one who drank the truth serum so he wouldn't be hearing that from her any time soon. Oh, and it was nice to talk to a fairly sane person.
"I… I… can't say anything simple without giving away something to important"
"I can just make something up. Like you and Siegrain having some sort of twin telekinesis or something. You are twins, right?"
"No" oops
"Just brothers that look alike?"
"No" damn it.
"…so you too aren't related at all?"
"We couldn't be. Siegrain isn't even real" Stupid full bottle of serum loosening his tongue…
"W….what?" shock was very evident on Lucy's face.
"He's a psychic projection. I slipped him into the council" No. shut up. Why couldn't he shut up? He'd been a lot better keeping quiet when Erza questioned him. Lucy wasn't even going at him that hard. "Siegrain and I are the same person. When I'm using him I see and hear anything he does"
"…" Lucy took a nice, long, deep breath "T……twin telekinesis then…"
"You're not going to report me?"
"Not yet…" Lucy sat up "If I find out you're doing anything wrong with this then… but……… I think I'm in shock…" she stood up, looking like she was in shock. Jellal got up too.
"Are you two finished?" Erza asked impatiently
"Yeah. We're done" Jellal told her
"You going to elaborate on how you looked at those records?"
"Twin telekinesis" Lucy said "He can see whatever Siegrain sees and vice-versa"
"You look like you just witnessed a murder" Jellal informed her.
"Yes… is twin magic that surprising"
"I… never believed in it" Lucy lied "It's just a little surprising to meet someone who can use it, then." She took another deep breath. She needed to settle down so seeing Erza's house wouldn't kill her. She was certain it would be decorated with every weapon and/or torture device known to man.
She was in for a surprise when they made it to Erza's house. It couldn't have been more normal. In fact, though Lucy wouldn't admit it out loud, it was even nicer than her house.
Why did a psycho like Erza have such a nice house? Maybe Natsu's house wasn't completely molding like she'd suspected. Maybe Gray's wasn't covered from head to toe in discarded clothes… Okay, so Gray's was probably covered in discarded clothes. But maybe Natsu's wasn't completely molding, at least.
OXXXXO
Rune Caster: Got lazy, so I'm ending here.