Jellal laughed for such a long time that Erza glared at him. Though she was dressed primly and had not a single hair out of place, nothing looked right.

"Where in all of Earthland did you learn how to curtsy like that?" Jellal teased through his peals of laughter. The princess huffed indignantly.

"Who are you to criticize my curtsies? You're a boy and an assassin! What do you know of royal etiquette?"

"I know enough to say that curtsy is sloppy and every lady at court will laugh at you from behind her fan."

"Fine," she snapped frostily. "I suppose I'll allow you to meddle. Show me a proper curtsy."

"No." Jellal stood from the whitewashed garden bench where he'd been watching her struggle with great amusement. "I have apprentice duties today."

"Please?" Erza blurted desperately. "It's my debut and if I embarrass mother I know I'll die on the spot."

He circled her with a critical expression and tapped a finger on his chin. She visibly bristled but said nothing.

"A curtsy is like a bow. It should be low and graceful. A show of deference. As Her Highness the Royal Princess of Fiore, you curtsy to no one but your mother." Jellal stood directly in front of her and very much enjoyed the way she ate up his words. "The only time you curtsy for someone else is when dancing. Then it's more chorographical than a show of respect for someone above you."

"I'm not very good at dancing," she murmured, glancing down at the grass. "I hate all of this."

"You'll get it," Jellal said confidently. "We'll go through it step by step. Show me the curtsy again."

Erza nodded and fixed her gaze on his shoulder. Her right foot moved awkwardly behind her left and Jellal cringed. "Is it wrong already?" she wailed forlornly.

"No, no!" Jellal sighed. "Okay, yes, but we'll fix it." He crouched at her feet and tapped her left heel. "You have to start with a balanced stance. You can't just clomp across the room and pop a curtsy without knowing what you're doing. Your right foot should glide behind your left. It should be fluid not choppy. Try it again."

Erza needed five more tries before she could move her foot without wobbling.

"Now you just need to dip down and bow your head. It should be quick but graceful."

"Right," Erza whispered. A strand of her hair fell from the twist on the back of her head and without thinking, Jellal reached over to tuck it back into the fold.

She clutched at his arm and struggled with the dip. Her frustration ate at him and he felt bad for teasing her before.

"Do you have your shoes yet?"

"No. They're being brought up tomorrow." Erza leaned against him and sighed. "Maybe I should take the coward's way out and ask for an escort. If I trip or fall –"

"You won't do any of that, Erza," he said quietly. "You'll get this down and excel at it the way you do everything else."

"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this."

Jellal stepped in front of her and grasped both her arms. "You are. You're the Princess and your mother's daughter. You can do a curtsy. Remember when you used to swing wildly at the trees with your swords and spin around in a circle before falling? When's the last time you did that?"

"It's been a while," she said with a dim smile.

"It's been years. You practiced every day until you got it right. This is the same. Work on it barefoot until your shoes are delivered and then do it over and over again in your room. Do it on the tiles and on the carpets." Her smile had grown into something he loved. "I believe in you."

"Thank you, Jellal. Where'd you learn all this stuff anyway?"

Jellal's heart lurched painfully. "Just… around. I'm not really from here."

"No?" Her eyebrows flew up. "You mean this city or…"

"Fiore. I came from Stella when I was very young and I spent a lot of time at court there. I guess some of it stuck with me."

"At court?" She pursed her lips. "I heard about what happened there. I'm sorry to have brought up anything painful."

"It's fine. I was very young and don't remember much." The lie was bitter on his tongue. "I'm happy to help."

"I'm grateful. I'll get it right and make you proud."

"Erza," he whispered, losing himself in the stray wisp of scarlet that brushed her cheek again. "You don't need to execute a perfect curtsy to earn my pride."

"I want to have real skills," she said just as softly. "I want to be your equal. I don't like being the princess on the hill you'd be embarrassed to have at your side down in the city."

"You think I'd be embarrassed to have you at my side?"

"Well, yes. I don't know very many things and you know everything and sometimes I wonder if I'm just a useless royal."

"Erza, you aren't any of that. You and your mother are the scions of this country. Everybody looks up to you for guidance and rule. Your mother brought a new era of peace and you represent the bright horizon. How can you call yourself useless?"

"Sometimes I resent my station," she whispered. "Is that awful? I think about running away."

"Where would you go?"

"Wherever you are." The princess flushed but didn't drop her eyes from his. "Is that so bad?"

"For me personally?" he asked with a smile he knew was outrageously sappy. "No."

"But for the country?"

"Not even that. You're sixteen and I think you have an itch you want to scratch. Be patient, Erza. You'll find your own groove. It doesn't have to be the same as your mother's."

"I want to be a good queen but I also want to be me."

"You'll figure it out."

"Will you be here while I do that?"

Jellal's expression melted into something softer. Something he didn't often allow himself to ponder for an entire host of reasons. He touched the loose strand of hair, the one that defied the others who'd gone gracefully into the twist, and sighed.

"I'll be here until I can't anymore. How's that?"

"When I'm Queen I can make sure there's no reason you have to leave."

Jellal said nothing. His head knew she'd made an impossible promise but his heart wanted to believe her. She stood so close to him he could see every perfect imperfection of her face. An eyelash stuck to the apple of her cheek and Erza didn't flinch when he pulled it away.

"Make a wish," he whispered. Erza closed her eyes and the tilt of her chin filled him with inescapable temptation.

When he kissed her she bowed into him and closed her fingers around the fabric of his shirt – the one beneath his cloak. Erza returned his kiss and Jellal felt a different burn in his chest. Something that wasn't lonely or sad. This was something new. Something bright. He pulled away from her and tucked the scarlet wisp behind her ear.

"I have to go," he breathed, already missing the press of her lips against his.

"Apprentice duties?" she murmured.

"Yes. I'll come for you tomorrow."

"I'll practice all night."

He absolutely could not stop himself from stealing one last kiss before dashing off over the garden wall. When he reached the base of the hill, Jellal felt a pair of eyes on him. The gaze of the Queen wasn't one he could ever ignore. She emerged from the dahlia bushes with an expression he could not decipher.

"You could've told her the truth," she said softly, brushing her fingers over the blood red blooms. "I wouldn't have stopped you."

"I can't."

"Will you lie to her forever?"

"I don't know."

The weight of the hill threatened to crush them. Chelia didn't spare her former guildmates a single backward glance. Through the whirling darkness of his magic and the light of the magic circle, she dashed toward them in a gust of wind and propelled them upwards through the desiccating hill. Once the spell left his fingers, Jellal felt like something had been ripped from him. Something he'd never noticed was even there, he'd now lost forever.

Acnologia's last expression was one of shock. For all his years of scheming, Ultear had proved far more clever and quick. His body blew backwards against his cohorts and once the hill began to collapse beneath them, Jellal stopped looking. Erza pressed against his chest as they huddled in the center of Chelia's cyclone. Ultear leaned against Erza's back but never lost focus. When the hill finally opened up and they burst from the wreckage, the evening sun nearly blinded everyone.

The sound of the fifth hill collapsing filled every corner and alley in Crocus. Even the tips of the golden spires that topped the palace vibrated. Jellal wondered if his skull would ever stop ringing. The rubble wasn't quite level with The Troughs but sank a few feet below. Crocus's spiritual hub was now a dusty trench filled with rocks, dirt, and bits of shrines and temples poking out across it. If he were a better priest, he thought, he'd have been horrified. As it stood, though, he didn't care.

Ultear collapsed against Erza's back and Jellal caught the edge of her cloak. Balancing on the heaps of broken things was difficult but Jellal managed to lift her body into his arms. Erza guided them out of the still settling mess and to a mound of grass that had been the center of a small courtyard only moments before. Voices rose to an inescapable din as the residents of the royal city milled around the enormous wound-like hole.

Chelia hovered over Ultear, inspecting her body for injuries.

"I don't see anything too bad," she said slowly. "I think you're mostly suffering from magic depletion. You need rest."

"Thank you, Chelia," Ultear said with a weak smile.

"We'd have perished in that tunnel if not for you," the Princess said, touching Chelia's shoulder. The younger girl flushed and wrung her hands nervously.

"It was my honor to serve, Your Highness." Chelia glanced around and bit her lip. "Should I curtsy? Or bow? Or –"

"Of course not," the Princess assured her. "You bow to no one." Chelia's face brightened and she threw her arms around Erza's middle.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Chelia!" Dimaria's voice rose above the din. Chelia smiled up at the Princess one last time before turning and dashing off to reunite with Dimaria. Jellal's eyes caught on a familiar white cat with golden eyes perched on the roof of a vendor's stall and suspected Wendy wouldn't be too far behind.

Jellal turned from Ultear and the Princess to survey what used to be the fifth hill. Not too far away he spotted a man sitting cross-legged on the edge of the crater. Silver half-moons hung from his ears and his dark skin glowed in the light of the sunset. He seemed to be in a deep state of thought.

"Azuma," Ultear said quietly from behind him. When he glanced back at her, she grinned tiredly. Jellal had never seen her so weakened. "He'll make the hole pretty so the Queen doesn't have to look at this blight."

"What of the people on the hill when it collapsed?" Jellal hadn't taken the time to consider anyone on the hill when he'd been beneath it, bleeding magic.

"Dimaria came through in a pinch," she said, not elaborating further. Ultear closed her eyes and heaved a deep breath. "I'm tired. Time magic is exhausting." She stretched out on her back, uncaring of the dust that coated the bench.

Jellal nodded and frowned at the palms of his hands. He tried to find the place inside of him that had once commanded the stars but… couldn't. All his life he'd been so close to them and now he felt nothing. The loss felt like the final blow separating him from his family. His magic had been the pride of both his mother and father. It had saved him from a life in The Troughs, always scrounging for food and work. What did he have left of himself that was worth anything at all?

"I understand why you didn't tell me," the Princess said from beside him. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

"Princess –"

"Unless you want me to start addressing you by your title, I'd like it very much if you'd stop addressing me by mine." Erza's frustration with him was plain but contained. She wanted things from him he wasn't sure he could give – or even should.

Jellal deflated. The emptiness inside of him was like a gaping maw he thought he might fall into and never find his way out.

"I'm sorry to have put you in danger," he whispered.

"Stop," she ordered. "I don't want your apologies, Jellal."

"They're all I have left to give you. I lied to you, Erza. Simply being around you has put your life at risk. Even caring for you –"

"Caring for me?" she repeated slowly in an offended tone.

"I've been nothing but a lying coward. You've always deserved better than anything I've had to give." He tried to smile but knew it wasn't a pretty thing. "I don't regret my choice beneath the hill because you're alive but I'm empty now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Highness," Lady Brandish cut in. He hadn't heard her approach but it didn't matter. "I should escort you back to the palace. Your mother will want to verify your safety."

Jellal felt Erza's eyes prodding at him but he couldn't look away from the empty palms of his hands.

"Of course," she agreed dejectedly. He felt her absence acutely once she'd been led away.

The royal city milled around him but Jellal couldn't move. Meredy joined him to look after Ultear and Erik lurked in the shadows. When the sun started its descent, and the moon showed her face, sprouts of green began to peek from beneath the rubble. Long after the world went dark Azuma stayed beside the crater and brought life from the death beneath.