A/N: Well, I'm done with school now! \(^.^)/ Yayyyy! Hopefully my updates will be coming more frequently now, but don't expect them to, so that you won't be disappointed if they don't and will be pleasantly surprised if they do. ;) After all, I've gotta get my fifty hours of anime in every week still. ;D Lolol jk!

Well, I'd like to thank BubblesFullbuster, Heartlessful, Guest, Lightmoon54, NekoMataDemon, ynaito, R. Peter, imahappyperson, Lightningpanda, TheSecretDreamer and Jai for reviewing last time! ^.^ You guys rock! I'd also like to thank Miamichicka, otakufangirl5925, DarkScarletShadows, RandomlyRandomPerson, Kaela04, 8YaminoHikari8, SilentHeartClato, iluvsoma, dana-llama-saur, JcL107, evelyn star, and chihaya. ayase. 9 for favoriting and/or following! :D

Now I hope you all like romance, because there's a little bit o' fluff and a little bit o' steamy in this chapter. ;) Please leave a review for this poor, brain-fried fangirl? :3

Chapter Fourteen – Goodbye
"Nobody can rewind time." ~ the GazettE, "The Suicide Circus"

Erza's POV

A steady shaking roused me from my slumber. It felt like I was being shaken up and down, and a loud clanking sound accompanied my movements. And then I became aware of the raw pain in my wrists and ankles. Wincing, I opened my eyes.

"You're awake," a low voice said softly.

I peered through the darkness that surrounded me, trying to find where the voice was coming from. "Jellal? Where are you?"

I felt movement across from me, and then something brushed against my hands. I grasped his hands in mine, though my movements were limited by the shackles that bound my wrists together. For several minutes, I just sat there with his hands in mine, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Blinking, I looked around and noticed the shadowy forms of the benches we were sitting on. A window was on each side of the cart we rode in, though they were both shuttered closed. Now that my eyes had adjusted, I noticed the faint wisps of blue light filtering in through the cracks around the windows. It must be dark outside.

"Why are you here?" I murmured into the darkness, my eyes traveling to his. They glowed faintly in the shadows, the barest hint of gold visible. "This is a prisoner transportation cart, is it not?"

I felt rather than saw him shift on his bench. "It is. You're being transported to the Council Headquarters to await trial." I nodded, already having figured this much from the moment I felt the shackles around my wrists and ankles. "I told them that I wanted to keep an eye on you, to make sure you wouldn't try anything. Everybody's heard tales of your skill and ferocity." He smiled wryly, the right side of his mouth quirking up. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, Jellal continued. "I wanted to speak with you in private before we reach our destination."

Now it was my turn to shift. I leaned forward slightly, trying to make him out better in the darkness that shrouded us like a cloak. The shackles around my ankles clanked noisily together, and I felt resistance as I tried moving my legs—the chains were probably fastened to the cart beneath the bench, preventing me from escaping the cart should I somehow find an opportunity. Trying to push my shackles to the back of my mind, I stated firmly, "Good. I have some questions I'd like to ask you, as well."

Jellal pulled his hands free and gestured for me to continue. "Go on. You can ask your questions first."

"Will you answer honestly?" My voice sounded more suspicious than I'd intended it to sound, and I winced slightly.

A breathy chuckle sounded in the darkness. "Always."

After a moment of uncertain silence, I drew a shaky breath and licked my lips. "Why did you save me, Jellal?"

The question hovered in the air between us like a living entity, waiting to strike whoever broke the silence first. With a sigh, Jellal raked a hand through his hair. I listened more intently than I'd ever listened before, almost desperate to hear his response. When it finally came, I didn't know how to feel.

"I've been asking myself that question since I first made the decision to do so." His voice was quiet and faraway, as if he was talking to himself. "After you came to me last night, I couldn't stop thinking about what I would do if I had to kill you. Would I really be able to push my blade through your heart and watch you fade away? But…just the thought of your blood on my hands made me feel cold. Dead."

"Why?" The enraptured question ghosted from my lips, something akin to horror written on my face. Horror and amazement.

Lifting his head to look into my eyes, Jellal leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Splaying his fingers across the lower half of his face, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them again, they seemed to be blazing. "Since the first moment I laid my eyes on you, I've been fascinated by you. You're so unbelievably beautiful, and your fiery spirit just seems to draw me in and never let go. I've watched the way you kill. Even while I was angered over how easily you kill innocents without a second thought, I was mesmerized by your skill. Watching you wield your sword is like watching a hurricane erase an entire town; you're deadly and yet beautiful. Cruelly but beautifully strong.

"And then I saw you gently guide the younger members of the circus, keeping them safe from the more bloodthirsty members. It was like you became a completely different person. A coldhearted killer by night and a caring woman by day. No one who truly enjoys murdering others would be able to wear such a compassionate expression while comforting a little girl after a nightmare."

"So?" I was having trouble breathing, so the word came out sounding slightly garbled.

"I wanted to know you. To know why you do what you do. I felt drawn to you, Erza. I still am. Like a moth to the flame," he murmured, reaching out and brushing his fingertips across my cheek.

"That's a rather poor analogy," I harrumphed, sitting back against the cart. "After all, who's ever heard of the flame getting burned by the moth?"

He pulled back with a sharp intake of breath. I almost felt bad, but then I remembered where I was currently headed.

My hands curled into fists on my lap. "Why save me, Jellal, if you knew I would just end up getting executed by the Council? Now that you understand me, you no longer have a need for me, do you? You've solved the puzzle, so I mean nothing to you anymore."

"That's not true." His response was so forceful and angry that I looked up at him with wide eyes. He rose from the bench and pressed his hands against the cart's wall at my back, bending over me so that our faces were roughly on the same level. "I've done what I have to do in order to keep you alive, and I don't intend to let my efforts go to waste." In a softer voice, he repeated, "You know that's not true."

Did I? Was there really something he felt for me? I thought back on how relieved he'd looked when he'd seen me awake in the makeshift hospital after the battle. How Chelia had told me what he'd gone through to rescue me. The innumerable bloody gashes in his broken body had been proof of that. Would he really have gone through so much trouble if he didn't…care about me? I opened my mouth to tell him that I was beginning to understand, but I was cut off before the words could leave my mouth.

My eyes widened as I felt Jellal's lips on mine, pressing insistently. My body responded automatically, warmth filling me to my core. I closed my eyes and tilted my head so that I could return his kiss. As our breath mingled and soft sucking noises filled the dark prison cart, I reached my bound hands up to clutch at his shirt. One of his hands remained pressed against the cart wall to brace himself while the other slid down my back and circled my waist, lifting me off the bench so that our torsos were pressed together. I broke the kiss just long enough to move my arms up and loop them around Jellal's neck, drawing me even closer to him. As our mouths opened to allow our tongues to sweep into each other's mouths, Jellal planted one of his boots on my bench to lend him more support. His arm tightened around my waist as I took his lower lip between my teeth and sucked on it, letting it slide back out of my mouth with a wet sucking noise. Our breaths were coming faster, in hot little pants, as our tongues continued gliding against each other, in and out.

A lusty moan filled the cart, and I realized through the haze of pleasure that it had come from me. In response, Jellal dragged his mouth from mine and planted a trail of hot, steamy kisses along my jaw and down my throat. I was still wearing my leather mini shorts and sleeveless corset that I'd been wearing in the pit, though they were now so full of holes and tears that they barely covered my chest and ass. The bandages that Chelia had put on provided another layer over my skin, but I still suddenly felt naked beneath Jellal's hungry mouth. His teeth nipped at the sensitive skin between my shoulder and neck, causing a shudder to travel down my body. I gripped him tighter, digging my fingers into his soft hair. My hips rose instinctively against him, demanding more friction.

This time, it was Jellal who moaned, his breath fanning hotly against my throat and chest. He splayed his hand across my lower back, moving it lower until it was cupping my ass and pressing my hips tightly against his own. Burying his face in my chest, he growled, "Oh god, Erza…I want you so badly. You're so fucking beautiful…."

My breath caught in my throat, a blush rising up in my cheeks. With a slight shudder of pleasure, I looked down at him. He tilted his face up slightly so that his eyes could meet mine, and I could feel the raw need in the air. Jellal pressed a kiss to my left breast, his eyes never leaving mine. I pulled his head up so that his lips could meet mine again, needing to lose myself in his kisses.

At last, after an indefinite amount of time, we pulled away. Our heavy breathing was the only sound in the cart, and Jellal slowly lowered me back down onto the bench. Once I was seated, he put his knees on either side of me on the bench, straddling me on his knees. With a ragged breath, he rested his head in the crook of my neck and nuzzled my collarbone with his nose. I gently ran my fingers through his hair, marveling at how soft it was. My lips felt swollen as I ran my tongue across them, missing Jellal's taste already.

"Erza…" he began in a hoarse whisper.

"It's okay, Jellal." I matched his volume, my voice equally ragged. "I understand. Do what you have to do."

His breath tickled my chest as he sighed. "This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," he muttered. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he hugged me tightly to him. "I can't lose you. I promise you, Erza, I will do whatever it takes to clear your name. Just…wait for me, and I will find a way to save you once again. You will not die." He looked up and caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. Gently, he brushed the hair from my face and pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead. "I promise," he whispered against my temple.

I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. Somewhere along the way, I'd developed feelings for this man. Perhaps they'd even been there from the time I'd first started daydreaming about who he was. Now that my feelings for him had been exposed through our passion, I was unable to keep pretending to blame him. I had let go of my fear and uncertainty. "I trust you." With a small smile, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. "I'll give you three months, Jellal. You'd better come through for me." My words were heavy, but my tone was light as my lips skimmed his with featherlike softness.

"Anything for you," he murmured against my lips with a smirk. He didn't have to say anything else—I already knew what he was saying. It was the same thing I was thinking in my heart; I think…I think I love him.

I was once again jolted from sleep by the sudden movement of the cart. As my eyes snapped open, I realized that it had come to a halt. Blinking sleep from my eyes, I lifted my head off of Jellal's shoulder and looked to him for confirmation.

"We're here." He slipped his arm from around me and slid to the end of the bench to open the shutters on the window. Pulling it inward toward himself, he peered through the iron bars that lined the window. I couldn't see much—just a pale gray fog and a dark shape looming up out of the mist. Shouts filtered in through the open window, as well as the occasional neighing of a horse. Jellal closed the shutter again and turned to face me. "I'm afraid that from here on out I can't do anything to help you. They're going to take you and your comrades straight to the prison, and I am to report to the Council." He paused, his molten golden eyes conveying his regret. "Remember my promise. I will save you again. For good, this time."

I smiled wryly. "Are you sure about that? Trouble tends to follow me around, you know."

"Three months," he said with a burning determination.

I whipped my head around as I heard a key being inserted into the lock on the prison cart's door. My heart automatically sped up. "I guess this is goodbye," I whispered, turning to face Jellal again.

He grabbed my face and feverishly kissed my lips, an almost desperate air about him. Pulling back, he hugged me fiercely and murmured into my hair, "Only for now. Good luck, Erza."

And then the door was being pulled open. Jellal straightened as much as he could and stepped out of the cart with a serious look on his face, giving nothing away. He'd told me that only Chelia, Gray, and the men who'd brought us to the makeshift hospital knew of how he'd saved me from the collapsed pit. That would at least make things easier, since they were trusted people from his squad and would not tell anyone else. That way, when Jellal later presented his case, no one would be able to accuse him of partiality. Well, not with any evidence, anyways.

"Ah, Captain Fernandes. Everything okay?"

Jellal turned to face the man who had opened the door. With a small, curt nod, he said, "She was unconscious for most of the ride. Take her to the prison with all the others." The man nodded and hurried up into the cart, a smaller key in hand.

As he worked on unlocking the shackles around my ankles, I looked over his head at Jellal. He was watching me with an unreadable expression on his face, but I could read the determination in his eyes. With a barely perceptible nod, he spun and disappeared into the mist, presumably heading for the Council's meeting room.

Strangely, I already missed him.

As the man led me out of the cart by a chain he'd attached to the manacles around my wrists, I looked around to see other prisoners I knew being led from their carts. We'd all been kept separate to prevent conspiracy, Jellal had said. They needn't have bothered. Most of the others were crying, wrapped from head to toe in dirty bandages. They were already defeated.

As surreptitiously as I could, I looked around for Lucy. There was no sign of the blonde.

Suddenly, I ran into something and nearly fell back onto my ass. Someone grabbed my arm before I could and tugged me upright again. My eyes widened as I recognized Jellal's black-haired right-hand man, Gray Fullbuster. He wore no expression as he regarded me, but as he swept past me, he whispered, "She's fine. She'll be put in the cell next to yours."

Before I could thank him, he was gone and I was being yanked along by my chain. "Get moving, you worthless rat."

I was so relieved that I didn't even deign to respond to the other man. He spat onto the ground and gave my chain a sharp tug. As I was led through the massive gate that suddenly loomed out of the mist, I steeled myself for whatever was in store for me these next three months.

Jellal's POV

As I left the Council room, I heaved a silent sigh of relief. They hadn't suspected a thing. In fact, they'd congratulated me for executing the plan without a hitch. They'd been a little surprised by my strange request, but in light of my success, they'd been unable to refuse me.

"If I may, I have a request to ask of you."

The Chairman of the Council raised an eyebrow at me in surprise. "Well, this is unusual. You never ask for anything, Fernandes. What could possibly be on your mind?" All the other Council members regarded me with curiosity, wondering what manner of request would be so important to me that I would do something so uncharacteristic.

"I would like to take three months off." Gasps rang out from around the room. "There is something personal I must take care of."

Silence met my request. Despite my cool outward demeanor, I was nervous. I was banking on the fact that I had never asked for time off before to be enough to convince them to be more lenient. After a moment of stunned silence, the Chairman spoke up again.

"Very well," he said slowly. "The trial will be held within the week, but we will hold off on enacting the sentence until your return. But we will only wait three months."

I nodded deeply to show my gratitude and understanding. "I understand. And there's one more thing…."

"Jellal?"

I had stopped in front of the room in which Gray stayed while at Headquarters, and the black-haired man had opened the door after my fifth knock. His hair was wet and he was wearing fresh clothes, a questioning look on his face. The only one of his bandages that was visible was a small square on the side of his neck.

"...I'll be taking Lieutenant Fullbuster with me."

"Pack your bags. We'll be leaving in an hour."

A/N: Wooooooo! We're finally getting somewhere! I wonder what Jellie's plan is? ;) Will he be able to accomplish it in three months? I'll give you a little hint. Since he wants to clear Erza's name, he's going after a person... Guess who it is in a review, and the first person who guesses correctly will...get to tell me something that they want to happen in the sequel. ;O Ohhh! Did I just give it away? Yes, this story is coming to a close. Buuuuut never fear, because I'm already planning out a sequel in my mind. ;D So, I hope this gives you guys a little extra incentive to review... (Am I a review-junkie? O.o I feel super lame now. Take pity on me, guys...! D:)