Hello everyone! I'm back with chapter 11 and we are entering a new arc (or whatever these things are called in fanfiction XD)
I just started college again, and I've spent the last week dealing with a family issue, but I started writing this chapter and just couldn't stop XD It's very set-up in a way, but I hope you'll like it :)
I'm sorry to people I haven't replied to for PMs or messages in general. I sometimes start replying and then don't know what to say or I forget or I think I've replied and then realise I haven't, but I'll try and get to everyone :P On this note, thank you for all of your reviews :D The make me so happy. Once again, I just want to quickly reply to some.
Raii-sama: Thank you for your reviews! They really made my day XD I also thank you for your insight for the other story I'm brain-scrawling~
Guest 1: "Sooooo...when are Jellal and Erza going to have sex?" Dear horny guest, Jellal and Erza will have sex if and when they decide they want to. I don't now about you, but I would not have sex with a man I have only met once before and barely know, especially if he attacked me :) I want to write this story so that the two have a properly developed relationship. If you want just sex, you're probably better off reading straight smut.
Guest 2: "Good story! There needs to be more JERZA!" Dear impatient guest, this story will slowly have Jellal and Erza being closer together more often as we go along, but as I said above, I want to develop their relationship properly. Tbh, I already feel that I'm going faster than I should be, but that's not to worry. There will be interactions soon. Rather... nice interactions that I think you will like ;)
Welp, on with the show! Enjoy and please ignore any typos. As always, I read over, but I always miss something :/
Oh! I was meant to mention this at the end of the last chapter, but Fairy Tail's blacksmith makes an appearance in this chapter. Kudos to anyone who can guess who he/she is before their appearance ;D
I haven't disclaimed in a while, so in case you somehow don't know, Hiro Mashima owns all of the characters in this fic.
"Hey, grumpy! Are you just going to lie around on your ass all day feeling sorry for yourself, or are you going to get up and do something?" Ultear's voice, despite her words, held amusement rather than annoyance.
"I'm not…" he began, rolling over to turn away from his guildmates as he realised his tone made him sound exactly like a whiny six year old. "…grumpy," he finished lamely.
"Jellal," Ultear scoffed, moving to drop herself onto the ground next to him. "You've been slouching around here for two and a half weeks. Either tell us what's wrong so we can try and help or do something so that we no longer need to know."
"It's nothing," he replied, feeling like he was repeating himself for the hundredth time.
"Heh, unlikely."
"Can you just… leave me alone, please?"
"You know, you can only put this off as injuries for a little while," Meredy commented, joining Ultear's side. "Your leg has been fully healed for almost six days now."
"She's right Jellal. My womanly instincts tell me that you're not telling us something. Heck, the last time you acted like this was when you ran into that chick at Everlu-" He felt his body tense as Ultear trailed off and Meredy made an odd noise at the back of her throat. Waiting for some sort of laughter or joke on their part, he began to roll back over to face them with denial.
"…Ultear?"
"GET HIM!"
He was winded instantly as Meredy's weight landed on his chest, his arms that flew up to push her off of him becoming trapped when Ultear grabbed them. He tried to buck with his legs, but Meredy was now straddling his waist, making the movement next to impossible. As he cursed, Meredy pulled free her ring of pink chains and he felt his hands being bound above his head, Ultear kneeling on his wrists to stop him from moving them.
"Okay, this can be easy or hard Jellal."
"Get off me! What the hell are you doing!?"
"Hard it is then…"
His eyes few wide as Ultear reached for his nearby pack and pulled his knife out. They- They wouldn't…
"Out with it Jellal. Come on," Ultear coaxed as she grabbed a tuft of his hair and slipped the blade under it.
"I don't- I mean… what are you talking about?"
With a 'tsk', Ultear moved her hand and he watched as blue strands of hair rained down past his face to the ground.
"ULTEAR!"
"This is for your own good Jellal. Just tell us or you're going to end up bald." Meredy said calmly, obviously trying to be the good-cop of the situation.
"I just told you! I don't know what you're talking about!"
There was a pause as Ultear huffed a sigh and moved her fingers down to pull his fringe back from his forehead.
"What do you think Meredy? I reckon Jellal'd look really stupid without his fringe."
"Don't you dare!" he shrieked in incredulity, sounding completely scared at this point.
"Uh! Uh! My hand… it-it's slipping Jellal!" He swore he could hear the knife start to pass through his prized hair once more and felt a few strands flitter down onto his nose.
"Nggghhh… Erza!"
There was a moment of complete silence as Ultear stopped in disbelief.
"Wai- what?"
He let an annoyed noise grumble up from his throat before he sighed. "He-Her name is Erza…"
A smile crept its way onto his malicious guildmates' faces.
"Alright! Now we're getting something…" Ultear drawled out, her suggestive tone making him wish he could turn his now-blushing face away from their eyes. Meredy seemed so excited at this point that she had both of her hands in fists in his shirt front, and was rocking him backwards and forwards.
"Okay. We want this story from the beginning once more Jellal, and this time, we want to know everything that happened."
With Meredy on his chest, his hands still bound and Ultear making a show of slowly flitting his knife to and fro above his head, he didn't really see a way to get out of the situation, at least without them attacking him again later. Huffing another sigh, he began from escaping Midnight through to her disappearing into the Worth Woodsea to find her friends, being as brief as possible and absolutely NOT mentioning what had happened after Nirvana had exploded and they had been high as hell. Nodding with smiles every time he paused for breath, the two women seemed to accept this new version of the story with much amusement.
Sparing him his now-numb arms, Meredy unhooked her pink chains and crawled off of his lap shortly after.
"Hmmm… I feel like I've heard about her. Is she the one they put in the magazines, Ul?"
"I can't remember Meredy. You know I don't read that stuff." Much to his relief, Ultear had also slipped his knife away.
"I know! We can totally go to Magnolia for a week or two! Unless she's out on a mission, we could ask her to meet us somewhere."
He bolted upright at that. "NO! No way in hell! We are not going anywhere near Magnolia or the Fairy Tail guild. That's final."
"Aw, come on," Meredy poo-pooed, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance.
"Meredy, I don't know what you think, but this isn't a… a thing… okay? I just met her once and ran into her again…" and kind of made out with her, "but she made it pretty obvious that she has no intention of seeing me again." He paused when he realised how this must sound. "Wait… No! Why do I even have to…? This is nothing! Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
"Jellal, you've been down ever since you got back and w-"
"I have been injured," he retorted immediately. "Injured."
With a sudden look of annoyance – or was it determination? – Ultear stood, motioning for Meredy to join her as she scooped her navy cape from the ground and began to head out of the camp.
"Whatever Jellal. You want to be alone? Fine, you told us like we asked, so we'll leave you alone."
Seeing Meredy follow, he paused as an uneasy feeling crept into his stomach. "Wait… Where are you going?"
"Shopping," Ultear huffed, and then they were gone.
Erza rolled over under her covers once more, keeping her head as far under her heavy doona as she could. She didn't want to risk her head poking out because that would mean seeing the sun. The sun would mean it was morning, or, worse, that she had once again slept past lunch and into the late afternoon.
She had been sleeping a lot lately.
At first she had been able to avoid facing the day by blaming her fatigue on the wounds Midnight had given her, but two and a half weeks had easily provided enough time to heal, and she knew this was now a psychological game. A week and a bit earlier she had forced herself out of bed and down to the guild, but that had been all curious glances and quiet whispers and pitying eyes and careful conversations. It was enough to drive her crazy.
If that hadn't been all, Virgo had returned to the guild whilst they were out, revealing that Porlyusica had been unsuccessful in finding any way to remove her cuffs. They had been forced to cut the chains down so that they didn't drag by her feet, but even then she was a sight to behold, permanently imprisoned as she now was.
Gray was even worse. He had refused to talk to any of them on the painful journey home and was absent for a week after that, lost in despair and grief. This had only been made worse when Lamia Scale had contacted them shortly after to say that they were holding a funeral for Lyon despite not having his body, said funeral being held… well, tomorrow if she remembered, and even had the date right anymore. No doubt Gray would have already left to attend.
They had also been left in charge of Wendy, as if matters weren't chaotic enough. Jura and Sherry had left so quickly from the Worth Woodsea and Blue Pegasus did have their clients, so she guessed Wendy had fairly been placed into their care given the circumstances. Still, that didn't make things any less difficult. In the end they had followed Lucy's idea and had introduced the little girl to Porlyusica, who ended up – for reasons beyond them – taking a liking to Wendy and agreeing to take her on as an apprentice.
Needless to say, she had afterwards fled to the confines of Fairy Hills and had been there for a good week, rejecting most of her visitors and promising that she'd work the next day, then the next day, then the next day.
You need to work. Ruchio will come and kick you out if you don't pay your rent.
She sighed. This had been a daily battle with her mind of late. Wriggling up under her covers she poked her head out and glanced towards the window, squinting as the sun hit her eyes. Well, at least it wasn't the afternoon from the look of it. Perhaps she should go and get a job, at least to convince herself that she was doing something.
Who knows, maybe the local cake baker has something you could do.
Flicking through her wardrobe, she hastily grabbed a singlet and pants to wear, though as she pulled a jacket free from her pile of clothing she knocked her pack from its precarious perch, spilling the contents onto the ground. The first thing that caught her eye was the destroyed handle and blade of her favourite knife, the one that had shattered into the brickwork of Nirvana when Midnight had dodged her attack; this is turn brought on a flurry of thoughts, both ones she was proud of (that last attack on Midnight) and those that had been haunting her (that look on Gray's face).
A kiss…
Fuck! She shook her head ferociously and hurriedly grabbed up her belongings, throwing anything unwanted aside as she restuffed her pack with her broken and damaged weapons.
I'll pretend I just want these fixed and maybe see if there's a good job on offer. That's it.
Trying to avoid Ruchio, she rushed from the dorm and tottered down into Magnolia, hoping to catch nobody as she headed towards the guildhall. Luckily people were either not out, or she had a real 'leave me the hell alone' aura going on, because she made it all the way uninterrupted.
She knew she should head to the blacksmith, but something compelled her to go see the Master first. Perhaps she really did have an inkling to work, she didn't know, but she made her way towards the second storey, weaving through her busy friends as they scurried around, completely oblivious to the hardships engraved in her mind.
The second floor was empty when she reached the landing, the couches in the corner abandoned and the tables spotless.
I guess everyone is on missions or something. Maybe they decided to accompany Gray…
Pondering, she turned towards the Master's office, eyes flickering towards the request board hidden at the far back of the level-
Ebony. Pink.
-and then back to the…
What was that!?
"Erza!"
She jerked and let out a scared huff as Mirajane's voice boomed from behind her, head whipping about to find the barmaid at the top of the stars, staring intently.
"Mira… I…" She turned back to the request board, brain in a fuzz as she registered that there was nothing – or rather, no one – there. "I… Uhh… I'm here to see… the Master."
"Master isn't here," Mirajane replied in a flash, motioning for her to join her back downstairs.
"Isn't here? Where is he?"
"Hmm?" Mirajane's eyes flickered back to her own and the redhead realised the barmaid had been distracted looking about the room. "Oh, he's at the guild master meeting in Clover Town. He's not due back for a few days." More gesturing, almost impatiently so.
"Okay then…" she mumbled in reply, heading back towards the stairs despite herself. Taking her arm, Mirajane led her to the bar before releasing her.
"Would you like something to drink? Eat?"
"No thanks," she said slowly, still trying to process the last few minutes. "I actually have some broken weapons that need fixing. I think I'll go… deal with that…"
"Sure," Mirajane replied, eyes never leaving her as Erza headed towards the back of the guild, a smile etched onto her face.
If there was one thing Erza liked about Gajeel, it was that he was blunt. He didn't stuff around with fancy words or technicalities; rather, he said what was on his mind, be it civilized or otherwise.
So, when she placed five broken knives on the table in the blacksmith, his curt "the fuck'dya do ta these Titania?" had her smiling.
"I was fighting. What else?"
"Against what, boulders or some shit?" The studded man lifted the two larger halves of her blade. "Hell, this was good steel too."
"Can you fix it?"
"Duh," he drawled, walking the few steps backwards to his furnace and tossing the shards into the fire.
There was a stool near the door on the farther side of the workshop, so she settled into it and watched as Gajeel went about his work, flicking through a shelf of prosthetic metal arms before he found the one he was seemingly looking for: a flat stub with a poker. Grunting, he used his right arm to detach the current left arm he had strapped in place (a simple metal claw) and reattached the new one, giving it a good flick to make sure it was securely fastened before he plunged the tip into the fire to move the coals about and keep the temperature just right.
Black Steel Gajeel. Who'd have thought a man with only a stump for a left arm would be Magnolia's best blacksmith? Certainly not her.
"Is that a new arm?" she questioned, eyeing a mess of metal stacked on a table at the back of the store.
Gajeel followed her gaze and grinned when he caught on. "Gihi, sure is. I'm tryin' ta see if I can have multiple blades in one arm but have 'em all flick out independently. I'm fuckin' sick and tired of detachin' and reattachin' different hands in the middle of battle. Too hard ta take out a sword and put in an axe if ya enemy's right in front'a ya."
"True," she agreed, slightly in awe that Gajeel could interchange the end of his false metal arm in a fight and not be too burdened by it.
"Oh, speakin'a new stuff, I got somethin' for ya."
Surprised, her eyes followed Gajeel as he rummaged through a bunch of junk on a separate bench, tools, screws and scrap metal sheets flying and he searched.
"Here it is… sonovabitch…" She stared on silently as Gajeel pulled a long metal chain with manacles on either end from the pile, turning to smirk at her proudly.
"Cuffs?" she questioned, her mind, despite itself, remembering one of the novels Levy had lent her a few months back. Lady Florence had been very fond of using cuffs on her gardener when her husband was out and they…
Not important!
"Yeah, I read about it in this magazine thing. You carry the chain all wound-up-like, and in battle ya use it ta trap yer opponent by tyin' them all up or chainin' 'em ta somethin'."
Hmmm, she guessed that could come in handy, should the time call for it.
"See, the cuffs just slap on as so," Gajeel explained, demonstrating on himself by slamming the manacle down onto his fake left wrist, where it held fast. "And then there's this secret release thing, so ya enemy can't get it off himself. It's…" The man fiddled for a second. "Sonovabitch…" Jerking angrily, he flicked the cuff harshly, gripping all over to find the release.
Turning away so that the man couldn't see her smiling slightly at his troubles, her eyes found Pantherlily at the back of the shop, curled up against the side of the furnace where it would no doubt be warm. Seemingly sensing her gaze, he cracked his scarred eye open and stared at her before rolling over to face the other way. Lily wasn't as sociable a cat as Happy, though he liked Gajeel for some reason.
"Why won't this goddamn…"
Letting her eyes wander more, she looked to her right at the table close by in the corner, hidden from sight if one was to stand in the doorway. Compared to the others it was relatively clean, a huge feather quill lying upon scribbled plans and designs. Leaning in closer, she plucked the quill from the table and noticed that the nib was fashioned out of metal, smooth and meticulously engraved. On the back, 'Levy' had been carved.
Ah. A present.
She smiled. Mirajane had been dropping rumours about Gajeel taking a liking to one of the guild's members, Levy. She guessed they must be true.
"Hey, hey! Don't go touchin' that!" Gajeel suddenly boomed, swooping in to snatch the quill from her hand. "Anyways, yeah, you just flick thi- are you payin' attention Titania?"
She turned back to find Gajeel giving her an irritated look, the chain, now detached from his wrist, dangling by his side.
"Of course."
"Good. Then you can have this for ya next mission. I just gotta hammer ya blades back inta shape. Shouldn't take too long, but if ya gotta be somewhere best come back in a few." With that, he flicked his prosthetic poker hand off and strapped on a large mallet, no doubt the one he used to smash the melted steel into shape.
She supposed she could go ask Mirajane if there were any small jobs available and come back. The barmaid was in charge of distributing requests when the Master wasn't around, as she archived all of the finished ones as part of her job.
New job, Erza mentally corrected, kind of missing the old days when Mirajane would actually do guild requests.
The bar was unattended when she arrived back in the main hall, Mirajane cleaning out beer mugs and stacking them into the cabinets near the kitchen doors. Jumping up onto one of the tall stools, Erza rested her chin in her hand and let out a heavy breath.
"Mira, are there any jobs in town that are available?"
Mirajane paused with her rag half way into a glass. "Actually Erza, the Master has a request waiting for you that he asked me to pass on when you showed up."
"He did?" Why didn't you mention this earlier? "To be honest though, I don't feel like doing any of those jobs. Just something simple would be better."
"Ah, this one isn't so bad. Strictly clean, I swear. Come down below with me and I'll show you."
This was a hint that Mirajane didn't want anyone in the guild eavesdropping on them. Nodding, Erza walked around the bar and followed Mirajane down into the basement of the guild, past the door to the archives and into a back room that held the Strauss siblings' collection of costumes and disguises.
Taking a seat at the table inside, Mirajane fished a yellow sheet of paper out of her dress and handed it to Erza, alongside a white card covered in fancy-looking script.
Scanning the request, Erza recognised the job description, having read it before some time ago when she was looking for other work. It was about an underground drug group that the Council wanted to find. It had always been too vague though, and that's why she had never bothered to look into it. Flicking the white card up over the yellow request, she opened it and read:
You are invited to the castle of the Iron Forest at midnight for a treat beyond your wildest dreams.
Below was a date, though no signature followed, nor was the card addressed to anyone.
She glanced up at Mirajane and gave her a look. Mirajane nodded.
"You've seen the request before?"
"Yes. The Council were just grasping at straws though. They had no information on the drug they were looking for or those involved in creating and selling it, just that it was being done. I wasn't going to waste my time if they hadn't found anything solid to go by."
Mirajane reached around the back of her chair for a nearby box and pulled out a map of Fiore, setting it down on the tabletop and spreading it flat.
"Two weeks ago the Council intercepted a train between Kunugi and Oshibana station that they had been tipped off about by some anonymous do-gooder." The white-haired woman pointed to the railway on the map. "They did a thorough search and found a massive amount of Lullaby hidden away on the train. Seems they were using the train-lines to move the stuff across the country."
"Lullaby?"
A nod. "That's what they're calling this drug now. In the last month this stuff has been spreading like wildfire and over ten people have been badly injured. It's some sort of depressant that relaxes you and makes you feel good, but there's a clincher. The drug is fine in small amounts, but if you take too much you fall into an endless sleep."
Erza crinkled her nose up. "Endless sleep?"
"Yes. The sudden boom in production and distribution of the drug is unnerving the Council, but here's where things get better. The train-line on which the Lullaby drug was found was recently bought by someone called Erigor."
"I take it he's the one I'm being told to investigate?"
"Not so fast. It gets better. Elfman was out working a week ago when he ran into a small underground dealership of Lullaby. He got the men there arrested, but also found that white card. We believe it's an invitation to a promotional party for Lullaby."
'Treat beyond your wildest dreams.'
"That's all well and good, but the rest doesn't make sense. Iron Forest? That's not a place. It doesn't exist."
"That took us a while too, but Levy helped out and cracked it for us yesterday. We believe the castle of the Iron Forest is referring to Eisenwald Manor, an abandoned mansion just north of Shirotsume."
"You want me to break in and catch Erigor red-handed?"
Mirajane chuckled suddenly. "Quite the opposite actually. We want you to attend the party."
There was a pause as that idea washed over her and she jolted upright in her chair. "A-attend the party? Why on Earth Land would I do that?"
"Erigor may be a key player in this drug group, but he isn't the only player. There are other sellers and buyers and people who make this stuff and they will all likely be at this party tonight trying the drug or promoting it. Rather than just taking Erigor and risk losing the others, the Council want you to attend and see who else is in on this. Make a list and get as many names as you can – they probably even have a list of dealers and buyers themselves. Then the Council can arrest as many people involved in one huge swoop."
Admittedly, it did seem like a rather smart plan, though she still didn't like it all that much. Parties were big, they meant people, and they meant talking to people. If she hadn't even had the want to be in the guild for the last two-ish weeks, how would she survive a ball? Plus, that very night of all times? It was likely the most last-minute job she had ever looked at taking.
"Listen," she began, sliding the card back over the table to Mirajane. "I don't really… feel comfortable going right n-"
"Erza!" Mirajane gasped, slapping her hands down onto the table over the redhead's. "Please. The Master himself left this for you before he left. He is counting on you."
Damn Mira, playing the 'Master is counting on you' card. Well, she pondered, it's not like you'll have to kill anyone. And if you finish tonight and report to the Council you'll have your rent money for this month sorted and not have to do any other work for some time.
"Oh, and I've also picked out your dress!"
She choked on her spit and went into a coughing fit for some time. "D-dress!?"
Mirajane began rifling through a rack of clothing as she rolled her eyes. "This is a ball Erza, you need to be well dressed. Oh, we also think it's masquerade," she added, nodding towards the white invitation card. Looking down at it once more, Erza noted that there was a watermark of a dress-mask behind the writing.
"Arg, where did I put it…" Mirajane trailed off suddenly and Erza glanced up to see that the barmaid had paused to look at a purple and green bunny-suit hanging on the rack, her eyes narrowed slightly and mouth downturned.
Lisanna. "Mirajane, I-"
"Ah, here it is. Silly me!" Mirajane suddenly laughed, fishing out a coat hanger with something long and black on it. "Come on Erza, off with those clothes. Let's try this on!"
"Off with my…?" she began, but Mirajane was already behind her somehow, yanking her jacket over her head and reaching for the zipper of her pants. Deciding just to get the stupid dress on, she yanked her singlet over her head and reached for the garment.
"No, you can't wear a bra with this Erza," Mirajane scolded, showing that the dress, well, actually wasn't a dress, more a detailed, strapless corset with a floor-length skirt.
"I can't wear that!" she said, though Mirajane gave her one of the scariest 'this can be hard or easy' glares that she had seen in a long time, so, unhooking her bra, she wrapped the corset around her torso and allowed Mirajane to tie up the intricate back.
"It's not going to stay on Mira," she complained, fearing to lean over even a centimetre in case the slim strings at the back snapped and her chest fell out of the very low-cut top.
"What are you talking about? It's fine. Besides, I tied the back tight enough. It'll only come undone if someone else unties it."
"What?" Erza huffed, spinning to look at the barmaid, though Mirajane interrupted with a loud "here's the skirt!" as she grabbed the fabric up from the chair it was resting on.
She never would have figured out how to put on the monstrosity if Mirajane hadn't been there to help her, but did have to admit upon seeing her reflection that the woman had picked a lovely combination. The corset was black with maroon lace, the skirt long and pleated, with the waistline tucked underneath the corset where the bottom flared out, so that they almost looked like they were part of the same gown. Mirajane had grabbed some pins and was tying up her hair in an intricate bun when Gajeel stumbled through the door.
He paused instantly in the threshold when he spied the two. "The hell you going Scarlet?"
Mirajane beat her to a reply. "She has a party to attend. Doesn't she look great?"
"Er, yeah?" Gajeel mumbled, never really one for giving compliments. "Anyways, here're your knives Titania, good as new. Sharpened 'em too."
Uhg. She had completely forgotten that she would want to be armed tonight. After she threw a glance at Mirajane, the barmaid seemed to catch on and smiled.
"Don't worry. Look at this." Reaching for her hip, Mirajane grasped at the skirt until her hand slipped through a slit in the side and touched her thigh. "The skirt has false sides so that you'll be able to still get your weapons quickly if you strap them to your legs. There're also two rows of fabric in the front of the corset over your stomach, so you can hide some thin, short knives in there between them if you like."
"Wow." Erza had to admit, she was quite impressed. Not that Mirajane the master of disguise would usually disappoint.
"Tch, whatever," Gajeel mumbled, obviously tired of standing around talking fashion. He dumped her knives onto the table along with the chain weapon he was getting her to test and stomped from the room, kicking the door shut on his way out.
"Okay, strap these to your thighs while I get my makeup," Mirajane demanded, beginning to follow Gajeel's path out of the room.
"Wait a second," Erza said, stopping the barmaid in her tracks. "How am I meant to get in? Won't I be recognised?"
Mirajane shook her head. "The invitation will grant you entry because only those invited should have them. You never have your photo put in any magazines like some people here, so I doubt you'll be recognised. If you are, just say that you're interested in Lullaby and try to make it seem like you're a buyer; there are probably normal guild workers wanting this stuff anyway who will be there. Plus, you'll have a mask on for the party. I'll grab that too when I get the makeup."
Then I just have to look around and find anyone related to making and selling Lullaby and get their names. Shouldn't be too hard. Finding a master list would be the best way to go.
"Oh, and work on your dancing while I'm gone."
She paused mid-thought. "Dancing?"
Mira scoffed. "Erza, this is a ball after all. Maybe some gentleman will ask you for a dance."
"I can dance!" she retorted, confident. Dancing was all about twirling your partner as fast as you could. It was easy. She was a rather great dancer if she did say so herself.
Mirajane pulled a face as she exited the room.
"Whatever you say Erza."
He was beginning his pace-route between the fire and the large tree on the edge of the camp for the one hundred and forty-eighth time when he finally spotted Meredy and Ultear coming up the road.
"Just where the hell were you?" he screamed, waving his arms in annoyance at their obviously care-free expressions. "It's been hours, the sun is almost down! Do you have any idea how worried I was!?"
"Relax Jellal," Ultear retorted, dumping a bag of what looked like clothes on the ground and dropping herself next to the fire to warm her hands.
"Relax? I went into town… that's how worried I was. I looked everywhere and you weren't there. Where the hell did you go!?"
"I said before, shopping," Ultear shot back, now starting to look for food.
"Shopping where!? Half way across the god-damn continent!?"
"Well, you did say that you wanted to be alone," Meredy said, backing up Ultear both verbally and physically as she moved to perch herself at her adoptive mother's side.
"I… I… Grrr!"
"Besides Jellal, you should be thanking us. We've found something interesting for you to investigate. A lead to Zeref."
The name caught him off guard. "What?"
Ultear smiled and reached into her cloak, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to him. The writing was in her script, he knew, though the contents seemed like an invitation of sorts:
You are invited to the castle of the Iron Forest at midnight for a treat beyond your wildest dreams.
"The hell?" he mumbled, not understanding. A riddle or something? Another game the two were deciding to play on him?
"It's a copy of an invitation to a gathering of drug lords tonight at Eisenwald Manor," Ultear explained.
Okay… "And this has to do with Zeref, how exactly?"
"Because the man who showed it to us said so. Said Zeref might even be there."
"And you believed him?"
Ultear shrugged. "Might as well look into it. It's just a party and it's tonight, so you can be quick about it, and it's not like you'll have to kill anyone if he's not there. Just leave whenever you like."
He took in a sharp breath and made a show of releasing it through his nose. "This is… stupid. Besides, this is just a copy of an invite. I wouldn't be allowed in."
"Exactly! That's why you're going and not us," Meredy chimed. "You're good at all that breaking and entering stuff, and you know what you're looking for more than we do."
"Yes, she's right. So go get ready Jellal." Grabbing up the bag from earlier, Ultear threw it at his face. Inside was what looked like a formal suit.
"What the…?"
"It's a ball Jellal. You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you go dressed in anything but a suit. Oh, and we think it's masquerade, so we got you a mask. Quite a good one too." Ultear glanced at Meredy and they both snorted a laugh.
Raising an eyebrow, he dug through the bag and pulled out a thin mask, realising soon after that if he put it on it would cover half of his face and leave the other exposed. Specifically, it would hide his tattoo.
"Har har. Just where the hell did you find this?"
"Ah, some nice white-haired woman," Meredy began with a giggle, cutting off when Ultear threw her a look.
What's going on here…?
"Look," he began, stuffing the clothes and mask back into the bag. "I don't feel like going and this is too last minute. We can look for a different lead and do something together later."
"Jellal." Ultear threw him a scary look that almost made him shrink back. "You've been here for days slouching around and we are worried about you. For God's sake, just go tonight and show us that you are okay. That's all we ask. Then we'll leave you alone for another period of time until we get sick of you again and get you to do something else. Show us though that you really are fine like you say you are."
He sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but maybe she did have a point. He guessed it wouldn't hurt to spend tonight out if it meant that they wouldn't bug him for a while.
"Besides," Ultear added. "There'll be food there and I'm cooking tonight."
"I'll go!" he instantly decided, and reluctantly headed for the forest to change.
And if he had only turned around once during his walk out of the clearing, he would have seen both of the wicked smiles that Ultear and Meredy were sending his way.
"It's perfect!" Mirajane chimed, floating around Erza as she adjusted little section of her hair and straightened out parts of her skirt.
"Good to know," Erza responded, grabbing the front of the corset and lifting it for the hundredth time in the last half an hour in case it had begun to slip too low.
"Oh, and here's your mask," the barmaid added, handing the redhead a black metal mask that would cover the top half of her face and flare out to the sides. "The carriage driver has agreed to take you all the way to Eisenwald Manor, so just sit and relax until you get there. The invite is in the top pocket of your cloak."
"Thank you Mirajane. You've been really helpful today."
"Not at all. You know parties get me all excited."
Erza smiled. "That's true. Perhaps you should be going instead of me."
That might have been the wrong thing to say. Mirajane hadn't done requests since, well, since the accident with her little sister Lisanna. Still, the barmaid managed a smile in return.
"No. This will be a good experience for you." Turning, she waved a hand out at the carriage that was rolling down the street, the driver spotting her and pulling to a stop in front of the guild. Picking up her skirts and climbing into the back, Erza moved the curtain covering the window to the side and looked out at Mirajane.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you again."
"My pleasure. Make sure you… have fun," Mirajane replied as the carriage pulled away and began down the street, Erza sliding back into the cushioned seat for the journey.
And if she had only turned around once as the carriage rolled away, she would have seen the wicked smile that Mirajane was sending her way.
To be continued in Chapter 12: A Ball for Criminals :)
Well, that's that. Hopefully you've all realised that this "arc" so to speak is centred around the Lullaby arc from the actual story.
Concepts that I tried to incorporate here are as follow:
-The purple/green bunny suit is meant to be a costume Lisanna used to wear. If you remember, Lisanna has this silly Take Over spell where she turns into a massive purple rabbit with green features, so that's the link. Mirajane's past was a little skimmed here, but it will come up later by my plans, so it will be explored a little more ;D
-Makarov being in Clover Town for the guild master meeting is as it was in the arc.
-Erigor buying the train-line and using it to transport the Lullaby drug was a reference to how Eisenwald high-jacked the train-line to play Lullaby at numerous towns in the manga.
-Lullaby as a depressant that puts people into an eternal sleep was a reference to how the Lullaby flute kills people when they hear it. For some reason as I was planning this 'arc' I thought the flute put people into an eternal sleep (aka. killed them) though when I re-read FT and did some research it seems in the main story that they just die T^T I was cut...
-Eisenwald means "Iron Forest" in German, so that's how I crafted the invite. Eisenwald manor is also the name of the place because I wanted to reference Eisenwald's name somehow XD
-Gajeel having a false arm and interchanging different metal hands is a reference to his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic. Gajeel usually uses his Magic to make his arms into weapons, so I tried to bring that in here. Though it was mentioned briefly, he fights by putting in different arms for different opponents. He's trying to make an almost pocket knife-like arm that has heaps of weapons :) I'm hoping to have Gajeel fight at some point in this story. He's pretty cool.
-If you read carefully you might have picked up Meredy using a pink chain to tie up Jellal. Meredy's abilities will be spoken over at a later time too :)
Uhhh, I think that's all this time~ There will be more Eisenwald characters appearing next chapter, so please look forward to it. There is also a scene coming up that is the original scene I daydreamed up that led to me starting this fic in the first place. Sort of a "Wouldn't it be great if Jellal and Erza were assassins and X happened?" thing, so I'm really looking forward to writing it X3
All the best and I'll try and update as soon as I can :) As I mentioned in my intro though, my college semester has just started, so I will be very busy.
As always, please review if you feel like it. I have a dream that one day everyone who follows this fic will review all at once and I'll double the reviews I have in a day XD Hahaha, nah, I know what it's like to not know what to say, but seriously, let me know what you like and want more of :P
ETG out~
