A Holy War

~I Don't Need You, Anymore ~


Hello, long time no see! How's everybody doing? ^^Sorry that I wasn't able to update for what...three months? I'm really sorry, but recently the magnetic attraction from me towards FanFiction is dimming at a horrifying rate, and I'm scared too, that I'd lose interest in writing stories for all you wonderful people. T_T Ahem, I'm still not to eager to return to my duties as a FanFiction author, but I can't rest any longer and have you all waiting.

Now I must thank everyone that's been waiting for an update, and all the angelic, lovable reviewers. Thanks for waiting, following, faving, reading and reviewing, minna! Ok, so here's my consiquence of being absent for so long. Let me prepare myself, whew.*Draws breathe* Thank you, Azure Raindrops, KayGe08, Moonstar Daughter of Hades, Siarex and Byakinri for following the story as ScarletPrincessTitania, ScarletFernandes, Smuthermuffin as well as l LaMuerte l, meowhaha, NaruSaku1995, mysteryAphrodite dragonbook, ynaito, preciousjewel101, foureyesfreak27 and ninjamedina18!And thanks to ArmoredHeart 3, 1fairytaillover and severedserenity, romance123lover and Sovereign64 as well as Ficlover, Burning Souls, Hiru to Yoru and BlackCatNeko999 along with falcon, JeRza and sereneskydragonslayer, Guest, Guest1234, Vehemens Ford, CrimsonNight41 and other previously mentioned amazing readers for the awesome reviews! Also, arigato to everyone; this story is becoming more and more popular because of your continuous supports!


"General Scarlet!"

"General Scarlet is here! We're safe!"

"My General, thank you for rescuing us! Without you we'd…"

A wave of diversified emotional cries assaulted Jellal's ears as he sank from the air, following Erza's lead. But as soon as his feet had touched the leaf green grasses, he found his neck greeted by the tip of Erza's demonically shaped sword. He turned around to meet her dark and humorless eyes that guaranteed him losing his head if he tries to do anything idiotic.

Now with the knight around, Jellal cannot help but notice how the pervious dreaded and frightened faces of the soldiers immediately blossomed into smiles and expressions of triumph and courage. Why, he is quite surprised that his ears aren't beginning to throb yet.

"General Scarlet, thank you so much!"

"You're finally here, great General!"

"P-please kill him; he is a member of Sacred Akuma!

"The man is highly, dangerously powerful. Be careful, my General!"

Jellal's eyes narrowed slightly as he casted his icy glare towards the now seemingly confident and all tough soldiers that previously was about to wee their pants before him, then his eyes warmed and travelled back to Erza with admiration. So you're a general now…and seems honorably strong and well respected. I'm happy for you, Er-chan.

But of course, she was not the least bit happy at his presence.

She raised her free left hand and instantly all the noises subsided as her demonic, amber eyes dashed across the paling features of her comrades. "So carefree now, are we? Yet all of you'd been so frightened and feeble when this man previously tried to kill you all, without even an attempt of protecting yourselves. Trust me, you all will get it when we return to the city. But for now, I know what I'll do with him. So stay out of this. By the way, where is Captain Erigor?"

Erigor stumbled forth, somehow suddenly looking no more than a frightened child before the two. He also seems to be very interested in all the ways of how his fingers can be meshed together. "H-here, G-General Scarlet, I hereby present to you our greatest gratitude for saving our humble lives."

"Captain Erigor," A growl escaped from Erza so terribly dangerous that for a moment even Jellal was a bit stunned of its frigidness. "And why is it that I have to clean up your messes? You should have been able to identify if one is dangerous or not."

"M-my apologies, General Scarlet…"

"For now, leave us be, Captain Erigor. I will deal with him accordingly."

"Yes…, of course, my general…"

The next moment her eyes had travelled back to him with a dangerous, studious glare.

"I want my answer." Her growling voice hinted a tinge of steel as her furious, gleaming eyes burned against his brown eyes in a dark, unfamiliar glare. It was as if she had never met him before this day in her life, and her icy attitude actually concerned him way more than the merciless metal resting by his neck. "And here's my first and final warning, try anything stupid and I'll be more than happy to rake your body into bloody slacks of meat for dogs."

Her harsh choice of words had stunned him. "Sure…"

"Now speak."

He knew her threat is useless physically, because just by one glance he knew he was way stronger than her. But on the terms of mental strength, it may be the other way around; just seeing her regarding him so icily caused his heart to throb. And mentally he wondered if he'd actually survive if he really was attacked by the gentle soul he once loved and wished to protect so much. He might as well as take her advise, eh?

"Don't make me say this again…" Erza growled again and much to his sadness he found the blade seemingly had consumed their distance even more. Now all it takes is a fraction of a millimeter for her to slice his throat. Though he knew it is impossible for her powers to do that, the least he wanted to do is battle her…even if it is for his own safety. "I said to speak, Jellal!"

She was serious, even a fool can tell. So in a gentle voice as not to invoke her from pressing her sword further by the dreaded millimeter, he whispered. "I stumbled across this land by accidence, great General Scarlet. I wished only for a humble nap before I was awakened by these soldiers of yours."

Her eyes narrowed testily. "Is that so? Then how is it that I only saw you tempted to begin a killing spree? Are you going to tell me that you will kill someone who committed no crime but disturbed your nap?"

He found himself unable to answer at once and involuntarily swallowed his saliva. She got him there. How is an honorable General like her going to understand the reasons to kill for a life stealer like him that murdered on a daily basis without a hint of remorse or resentment?

Then much to his joy, his brain found another way to justify himself. "I was attacked by someone among here. Didn't you see a sword cutting at my hands before? If I hadn't stopped it, then heck, I'd have died with it at my heart, Erza-"

"Don't call me that! You've lost your rights to call me by my first name!" She spat viciously. "As for that sword, I was the one who had tried to assassinate you, bitch. What are you gonna do about that, huh? Kill me?"

Anger pumped through his blood vessels as his shocked and harmed eyes twisted into cold stars that wiped away the sorrow once within as if they've never existed. His voice was so dangerous and distorted that she noticeably flinched from his sudden shift in attitude. "You had been the one, great General? How very honorable, I must say. But supposed I had not been a member of Sacred Akuma, and had died from your earlier actions, how'd you justify yourself? "

She glared at him with defiance and annoyance before growling, "Though you have no right in ordering me around, should you wish for the explaination so much, you shall then have it. I had heard of the report of a blue haired, red tattooed trespasser with the possiblities of being a member of Sacred Akuma upon our land from Nab. Thus, as His Royal Majesty had ordered, I was to lead the Second Squad here and try to capture this trespasser alive..."

Upon here her amber eyes narrowed dangerously, "Though I really didn't have to, as I was told our safety comes before the mission of capturing this invader. On the way here, I asked Captain Erigor to temporarily be in charge so that I can as an ordinary soldier, observe whether this person is really from Sacred Akuma or not. And what have I found? Some stupid retard playing with my soldier's mind. So I attacked you...If you are truly a member of Sacred Akuma, stopping it would be a piece of cake for a mage of that rank. If you weren't, the most harm I'd do to you is of shock, no pain. Thanks to that assessment, you are proven to be no ordinary person."

Murmurs of awe and new found respect from her followers rippled across the atmosphere.

"Yeah, General Scarlet is not only beautiful and strong, but smart as well."

"Show that bastard what you're made of, General!"

"That's why we will follow you to the end of the world, great General Scarlet!"

"Yeah, right, great General..." He somehow interrupted the cries effortlessly; despite his soft voice, his eyes were blazing with fury. "I still felt the enmity and an undeniably great urge to kill even though you made it sound as if a harmless experiment. Do not lie to me, what is your true reason behind that blade? What satisfaction would my death bring you? Since when had you hated me so much?"

"Since you've left!" She screamed all out of the blue, utterly shocking him and the surrounding army before regaining her heated demeanor and hissing in just as much defiance. "If it would help you understand this all, then fine! Back then, you spoke of all the possible freedom and happiness we would have when all is over, together! But you've gone back on your promise! You betrayed us with your departure and abandoned us in that rotten land of inhumanity, Jellal!"

"It was that since you left that I've been feeling abandoned and lost, since you've interfered with my life back then, you've been the sole comfort of my life!" His anger faded as he noticed the very slight tears bubbling up against her iridescent eyes. "You had appeared before me recklessly, and left just as blankly without remorse or ever turning back. Each fragment of the cell and the land then became souvenirs of you, devices of my torments and suffering from your scarring memories!"

Upon here her passionate voice gradually grew into a dull, pained whisper, but she did not stop as her head lowered and that scarlet curtain of hers drew over her heartbroken face. "I had missed you and waited for you, days and nights, without surrendering to my secret fear that you'll never return, even though all had believed it as the reality."

His heart shattered as she sputtered all that emotional words without drawing a breath. Her eyes then rose to him with a dangerous shade. "Everyone back then had sensed months after your arrival, you had changed. Everyone that it is, Jellal, except for one stupid, foolish girl…isn't it hilarious? I was the only one that actually believed all those bluffs and lies that ever left your tongue, and the only one that had ignored warnings from my most trusted Rob-ojisan about your freezing mind and heart just because I…had believed and loved you back then."

"Erza…"

A demonic pair of eyes immediately rose from behind those bloody red hair and almost sent him flinching backward as she roared in a mixture of a sob and a howl before she raised the tip of the blade towards him. "If you were to say that you hadn't the slightest clues of my feelings for you back then, I will personally end your pitiful, oblivious existence here on Earth Land so that you'll learn that a girl's intentional heart, one filled with love for a boy is not something to be tempered with!"

Sadness send a jolt through his body as a hurricane of realization and memories seeped in, Erza had loved him in a very apparent way. She had been the only one understanding him, comforting him and opening her very heart to him. And how had he repaid her kindness and love? A long lost sensation was suddenly blurring his eyes with a warm and wet stroke. Startled, his hand instinctively reached up to feel the strange experience…only to feel soft droplets of tears rolling into his fingers. He hadn't cried for such a long time that he's almost horrified of it.

But Erza's outburst wasn't done yet, by now her voice had again dimmed to a nearly inaudible but malicious growl. "And how had you rewarded this young girl that would gladly give you her life and heart to support your ideals, fiend? Not only had you escaped the very night since you've promised you'll forever be at her side, you had made sure her favorite grandfather had died. Isn't that right, Jellal Fernandes?"

Utterly stunned eyes flashed up to her in an immensely surprised gleam. "Rob? How did you know about his death cause?"

If ever possible, her aura just grew even more frigid, though it certainly didn't match her blazing glower. "Had you supposed I was a fool? You've been the only one that knew how to wield Magic back there; to cause such damage matched the descriptions of the…" Upon here her ferocious growl dimmed even more with hesitation. "Slave holders."

Upon this phrase, Jellal immediately felt surprise and shock radiating from the auras of the surrounding armies, and he knew immediately that they will have to be eliminated before he leaves, for Erza's sake. His secret crush had trusted the army, but he knew that they mustn't be allowed to have a chance to pass this information on to others, or Erza's reputation or position will be endangered. Although he's never cared about ruining others' lives, he'd never allow hers to join that list.

"We were shown recorded fragments from spying lacrimas. But despite the slavers' lies of how they were making an example of you as a runaway and how they managed to kill you with their work of demolishing the towers, from their poor editing techniques and a secret sensation, I knew you caused it all and managed to live…and seriously that's all the information I really needed to hate you."

He drew a deep breath and murmured, "T-there were reasons behind that, it really was a long story. To say the truth, I really didn't want it either, Erza…"

"I told you to stop calling me that, jerk!" She roared with narrowed eyes of flashing amber, which in the sunset shower seems to glow in the color of the blood. "Since the second you had left our cell at that fateful night, you've lost the right to call me by my first name."

His eyes narrowed painfully, "So what is it that you wish me to do, great general. The past cannot be changed; I cannot undo what has been done. Here in the present, all that I can do is try to mend the mistakes of my past. Tell me, Scarlet, tell me what is it that you wish me to do to atone my crime?"

His eyes were glazed with a mixture of long lost emotions, desperation and sadness, and it seems to have reaches her icy heart as for a moment, her voice grew a bit softer but nonetheless still held onto it ferocity. "I want to know, why have you left, and why...why have you abandoned us?"

A wave of flesh tearing memories returned and his head involuntarily lowered as his bangs drew shadows over his eyes. His voice was only a bit more than a gauntly whisper. "I didn't abandon you, Er-ch…" Once more he bit himself to avoid displeasing her, "I mean…"

"Carry on," Impatient and an emotion to which he cannot decipher shadowed her whisper.

"At least I didn't want to. The least thing I ever want to do in life is lie to you." Upon here, his eyes rose to meet hers with a gleam of truth and a desperate will to have her understand. And upon contact, he found the ice in her eyes dissolving a bit as her sword lowered from his neck. "I really didn't…but Fate ordered otherwise, and should I have remained…someday, I…I may found myself involuntarily harming you, if not kill you. So I found the reason to leave you…"

"And that's why I hate you, Jellal!" She suddenly interrupted with a fearsome roar that certainly split his heart into pieces, as he felt the sharp pain jolting through him from the ferocity of the words. "You've never trusted me. Who did you think you are, to decide my life and priorities for me? You said you wanted to protect me with your leave. But what if it killed me when I found you gone with your promises broken? Did you think I'd have been happy to live on if you're not at my side? Answer me, Jellal! Why must you always behave so selfishly?"

A stinging sensation of warmth was assaulting his eyes once more, and he felt the raw pain of a heart splitting into millions of fragments. "E-erza…"

She did not appear to have heard him as her eyes closed with an expression of sadness and pain. And upon this sight, Jellal didn't think he's ever felt more depressed as far as Sacred Akuma's risen. His crush since childhood evidently loathed him to her bones, and despite all her turmoil, she still refused to appear weak before him as if he was the most despicable enemy that basks in satisfaction in seeing her pained.

"Not that it matters though, anymore." Somehow, her voice lost its throbbing shiver and grew stronger and more collected. She then stumbled away as her sword flew back to her side, and with a wave of her scarlet hair he loved so much, she turned away, but not before he caught a glimmer of flying, iridescent tears as she lashed her head away.

Her voice was as soft as cotton, but the words that emerged from that soft, silky voice were embedded with the sharpest daggers he's ever been cut with. "Because…Jellal, I honestly don't need you anymore. I've grown strong, and I've got Natsu."


Well, well, well. Didn't Erza just did the cruelest thing ever known to Jellal? ^^ What'll happen next? Anger, confession, romance, jealousy? Maybe just one, or maybe all of them? Let's just stay tuned and read the following chapter, eh?

Now if you wouldn't mind clicking on that beautiful area just a little down, labelled "Type your review for this chapter here", I'd be so grateful. The goal is 200 this time. And anyone remember my deal? Every 100th reviewer of the story gets to control what'll happen next in the story: in other words, I'll take in whatever suggestion you've got, and that's a promise!

Now thank you for reading up to here, and for making last chapter a record of most reviewed chapter with a shining 17! Let's see if you can beat that with this chapter. *grin*

Updated on August 4, 2013