Note: This chapter is in two parts for narrative reasons. Also? I'm an asshole. Tell me I'm pretty :)


He knew how it looked from the outside. A convenient little club of doppelgangers that he would forever be a member of. They shared everything. Secrets and lies and made up stories floated from one matching bed frame to the next long after the lights were turned out. A schoolmate asked him once if they had twin-speak. Jellal didn't expect the question to hurt but it did. He and his brothers weren't twins but sometimes it felt that way. Yes they were identical and shared many things including a living space and had a litany of expressions and reactions that didn't differ from one another in the slightest - but Jellal was always a little bit on the edge of a line. And sometimes, like on his birthday, he found himself right over the edge of it.

Jellal was the youngest of the three. He'd been born exactly six minutes after Siegrain at exactly twelve-oh-one… the day after. Sometimes he resented the version of himself that had been slow to find his way outside of Anna's body. Two minutes earlier and he could've been with his brothers. Instead he was the wolf that broke formation. The one with a streak of white on his fur that no one else had. This insecurity nagged him every time Siegrain and Mystogan joined forces to push him out.

Out? No, that was far too malicious a word. Intentions aside, the deep fear of being alone and separate from the pack always flared when they preyed on him. Jellal loved his brothers in a way he couldn't ever love anyone else. They were a part of him. But even now as a full grown adult he felt separate. Singular. He hated it.

"Daddy?"

Jellal looked backwards over his shoulder to find his son peeking through the crack in the bedroom door. "What is it, buddy?"

"Where's mommy?"

"She's still at work." Jellal returned to the slowly shrinking pile of unfolded towels. "She'll be home later tonight."

"Are you sure?" The little boy's voice was insistent.

"Completely sure." He stacked the folded towels in alternating colors. Solid blocks of blue in the linen closet irritated him. "Where's your sister?"

"Still napping."

Jellal glanced at the clock on the wall and when he returned to the towels his son had crawled into the bed and toppled one stack. He swallowed a frustrated sigh and righted the towels.

"What time will she be home?"

"I don't know. Probably late tonight. She's got some last minute stuff to do." By 'last minute stuff' he meant an emergency surgery on a dog that'd been nearly mangled by a truck. Erza had a soft heart and she couldn't turn the guy away. Jellal couldn't explain all that to a five year old, though, so he deflected. "What do you think about pizza for dinner?"

"Can we get the breadsticks with the cheese too?" the little boy asked brightly.

"Yep! Why don't you go downstairs and pull it up on my laptop and we'll order when I'm done with the towels."

"Okay!" On his way out, Jellal's son knocked over the stack of towels once more. The kid was needy and Jellal couldn't fault him for it. He needed Erza, too. She made him feel special in a way that didn't have anything to do with his brothers. Yes, she would get visibly annoyed with him sometimes, many times actually, and she never hesitated to poke him in the ribs when he needed it. But he knew she loved him for exactly who he was - a clingy, insecure mess.

They'd grown up but not apart. Together they'd learned all about themselves and each other. Jellal didn't want to even ponder a world where he wasn't with Erza. She'd come into his life at sixteen and stayed - even though he knew she was too good for him.

Erza was the brightest spot in his life, but his relationship with her was bittersweet at times. Jellal knew Siegrain had been in love with her for almost as long as himself. Things were different now, but for years he'd watched his brother try and empty a slowly sinking ship with a spoon. It wasn't a thing they talked about. Jellal knew. Mystogan knew. Even Erza knew.

He'd always been afraid Siegrain's feelings for Erza would twist into something ugly and rotten. Something that would rust a hole in the bottom of their family. Jellal had underestimated his brother, though, and still felt the guilt over it. Sofia saved them all and patched the hole in Siegrain's heart. Lisanna had finished the job and Jellal could never repay the two of them for fixing his brother. It was an insurmountable debt they didn't even know he owed.

The phone rang as he stuffed the towels in the closet. His sixteen month old daughter started whining in her room before he could answer the call. He scooped her out of her crib as the frantic voice in his ear spoke at a million words per minute.

"Whoa, whoa, Sofia, what's -"

"You have to come, Uncle J!" his niece panted. "It's Erza!"

Jellal froze. His daughter squirmed. "What about Erza?" he whispered. The silence stretched. "Sofia?"

"Hey, Jellal, sorry about that but -"

"Sieg, what's going on?" Jellal whispered. "What's happened to Erza?"

"It's, uh," Siegrain stumbled over his words and Jellal felt like his heart would pound out of his chest. "Look, she's going to be fine, okay? We tried calling your mobile but -"

"Alex must have my phone," Jellal breathed. "He plays games and bumps calls." He recognized that he was babbling but couldn't stop. It was a nervous habit.

"Erza's been in an accident."

"What?" Jellal's grip on his daughter tightened.

"It's gonna be fine, okay? I'm a block away. I'm leaving Sofia with the kids and I'll take you to the ER. She's already there and Mystogan has her -"

"The ER?" He felt like his brain was just firing off nonsense questions.

"Yes the ER. Mystogan is with her now."

"Right."

"He's the best and he won't let anything happen to her. Okay? Jellal?"

"Yeah, okay."

"I'm pulling in now." Jellal heard his brother speaking to Sofia in the background but he couldn't move. His niece found him in the upstairs hallway still holding a fussy baby with a phone at his ear.

"Uncle J?" Sofia said, gently prying the little girl from his arms. "I'll handle the kids, okay? Just go. My dad's in the driveway."

"Yeah, yeah." Jellal said, snapping out of his stupor. He stuffed handed over the house phone and headed for the stairs.

"Um, Uncle J?" Jellal spun around to face Sofia who pointed at his feet. "You might need some shoes."

"Right," Jellal spluttered. "Shoes."

By the time Jellal joined Siegrain in his car, he'd managed shoes but not real pants. His pajamas would have to do. His mind was stuck in a loop of worst case scenarios. Erza on a stretcher. Erza bleeding. Erza… dying?