. Between the Lines .
Lucy followed the blond man through the halls of wherever they were, her dark eyes carefully lacking in emotion. She would not give Jellal Fernandes the satisfaction of her fear, she'd decided, no matter what he wanted with her.
When they entered a rather large room, Lucy took a moment to study it. It was made of some kind of beautifully shining rock rather than the stone and rugs she'd grown used to while walking through the building. It glowed softly in the dimness, casting shadows in strange frightening ways, and at the center of the room sat a throne-like chair. A person was settled in the chair, a man Lucy recognized from the picture she'd inspected on her computer only days before.
Jellal Fernandes watched her quietly, his head cocked just slightly to the side. His dark eyes showed no sign of anger or the evil gleam she expected. His presence held no threatening feeling or dark magic like Deliora's had, and the man beside Lucy only grinned and held up a hand in greeting as he called, "Brought her, Jellal!"
"Thank you, Sho," Jellal answered, voice surprisingly mellow. Lucy watched him suspiciously as he stood, waving for Sho to leave. "Would you and the other two make sure Miss Marvell's head is seen to?"
"Sure," Sho said cheerfully. "We'll set things up for her, too," he added, nodding towards Lucy before turning and starting away, hands shoved into his pockets. When a door closed behind him, Jellal's attention turned on Lucy.
"Hello," Jellal greeted pleasantly. "I'm Jellal Fernandes, though I suspect you're already aware of that...you are Lucy Heartfilia, the princess of Bosco, am I correct?"
Lucy contemplated the idea of lying before seeing that there really wasn't any point. "Yes," she said stiffly, making no effort to be as polite as he appeared to be. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia." She offered nothing more than that, watching him carefully as she tightly crossed her arms, clamping her mouth shut.
Jellal shrugged, turning away. "Good. That would not have gone over well, explaining why you were picked for no reason had you not been." He examined a watch that decorated his wrist for a moment. "...perhaps an hour to two before they arrive. Should be plenty of time." Lucy impatiently gritted her teeth, silently demanding to know what there should be plenty of time for. When Jellal offered no more information, merely waved for her to follow him, she couldn't help but say it out loud.
"What do you want me here for?" Lucy demanded. "You had to knock us out? You couldn't simply ask?"
Jellal paused, as if considering this, and then flashed her a grin. "I suppose. But you wouldn't have come. The Magic Council will have alerts out everywhere by now. You would have heard of me, even if you are a newer member of our community. Now. Follow me, please."
Lucy kept her gaze locked on him as she did as she was told, just daring him to try anything. He led her through the corridors of the strange building, his dark eyes thoughtful as he talked. "You asked what I needed your services for...it's simple."
"So explain it, then," Lucy huffed.
"I need your magic to fire off a bit I stole from the Magic Council. My magic should have been enough but it uses a bit more than expected. Your magic is the closest to my own heavenly body magic." He showed what he meant, a soft glow appearing in his hand. She eyed the golden light with curiosity despite her nervousness. "You will simply need to use your magic to help me fire it."
"Fire what?"
"A canon that uses powerful magic," he answered as if she should know what that was. "I stole bits of magic that I needed from the Magic Council, set it up, and just need help firing it. Our magic comes from a similar place: the heavens. It's far more powerful than any type of magic any of your other mages from Fairy Tail can come up with." He gave a dark grin suddenly. "Even more powerful than Erza's."
Lucy's eyes widened fractionally. He knows Erza. "May I ask why you're so determined to fire this?" she questioned, not entirely sure she was going to like his answer.
He extended his arms to wave at the building around them. "This building...I've built it out of a material called etherion. It's dormant for now, but struck with enough power…" Jellal grinned. "My Tower of Heaven will truly be created, and I will be able to resurrect the black mage Zeref."
Nope. She definitely did not like where this was going.
"Why?" Lucy said shakily. "Why would you want to resurrect someone like Zeref?"
"He is the most powerful mage in all creation, why would we not?" Jellal answered simply. "Will you help me, Miss Heartfilia? Or will I be forced to make you?" His politeness was gone in an instant, his gaze slitted furiously. Lucy flinched at the sudden change before choosing her next words very carefully.
"What do you want with Wendy?"
She wanted to keep him distracted for as long as she could. Two hours. If she could last two hours, maybe less or more, she'd be able to procrastinate long enough for her friends to get there. She hoped Wendy had called them, texted them at the very least.
"Simple. She's here to make sure you do what I want," Jellal said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, Lucy realized. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"Hm," Lucy answered, swallowing thickly. She didn't feel as if this was the smartest thing she would ever do, but like hell she'd willingly assist him in resurrecting a mage like Zeref. So she smiled tightly, said, "Screw off, Jellal."
And then she spat in his face.
Wendy hugged Lucy's phone to her chest tightly, her expression one of fear as she uneasily let Millianna tend to the wound on the back of her head. The woman chatted easily with the largest of the three - Wendy had learned his name was Simon - and Sho, who'd shown up without Lucy to pull her to this room. She'd managed to send a message to Gray after her calls hadn't connected, and he'd responded quickly, reassuring her that they were on their way before they'd come.
Wendy watched them out of the corner of her eye, wincing when Millianna tightened the bandages that were wrapped around her head now. She didn't think these three were bad guys. They seemed genuine in their concern.
But that didn't make her less worried for Lucy.
"There," Millianna cheered as she finished tying off the bandage. "Better?"
"Yes," Wendy said in a small voice. "Thank you." And then she was quiet again.
"She's a quiet one," Sho mused, grinning at Simon. The larger man inclined his head just barely, watching Wendy with care. Sho shoved away from the wall he leaned against, rolling his shoulders. "I wonder-"
The phone in her hands went off. Wendy's face flashed with terror, fearful that they'd take it away, but Simon only waved at her.
"Answer it if you want," he said kindly. "We won't do anything against you, Miss Marvell."
"...thanks," she whispered, and then answered the phone call. "Hello?"
"Wendy?" Juvia's voice answered. The connection was clear, without a single bit of static. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Wendy reassured, relieved. "They, um, actually just helped me bandage my head."
"They did?" Juvia sounded shocked. "...Juvia is confused."
"So am I," Wendy muttered back. She glanced nervously at Millianna when she went to put the supplies away. "Wh-where are you? I couldn't get through with a call when I tried…"
"Juvia is at the base of the tower," Juvia said smugly, sounding proud of herself. "Gray asked if Juvia would go ahead of everyone and Juvia reached the island in under ten minutes. They are about an hour away, Wendy. Is Lucy okay, too?"
"I don't know," Wendy said, gaze darting over to the others. She didn't say anything more than that about Lucy's location. That and something along the lines of, "I haven't seen her in a while."
"Natsu will not be pleased," Juvia murmured. "Stay strong, Wendy. Juvia will figure out Lucy's location quickly, so they don't get too mad."
"Okay," Wendy said quietly, hugging herself after she'd hung up and safely tucked the phone into her pocket. She hoped silently that the battery didn't die before she was found. Or Lucy for that matter. Wendy studied the three curiously watching her out of the corner of her eye and then spoke up. "Um, what is Jellal doing with Lucy?"
"He just needs her help with something," Millianna told her, smiling reassuringly. "We're trying to accomplish something important, and he needs her magic to help him start it. Don't worry, he doesn't want to kill her or anything. He doesn't even want to hurt her."
"Are you sure?" Wendy said nervously. "I've heard bad things about him…"
"She'll be okay, Miss Marvell," Simon reported. "Jellal promised us that nobody would be hurt in any of this. So we'll promise the same in return. And if we break our promise, strike us down where we stand."
Wendy didn't like the sound of that.
She didn't like the sound of that at all.
"C'mon," Natsu moaned miserably, draped over the side of the boat that was going forward at full speed. "The hell is taking us so long to get there?"
Happy, who was sitting beside his buddy, worriedly patted his back. "Don't worry, Natsu, Erza said we're almost there."
"We are," Erza confirmed, staring straight ahead with a hardened expression. "We'll be reaching the island within the next twenty minutes or so." She'd long since requipped into a full set of armor - something none of them could understand. Never before had Erza clothed herself in such a way.
It was Gray who suddenly realized it. "You never told us about how you knew Jellal, Erza."
Erza's lips parted in surprise before she glanced at them. Even Natsu was paying attention, listening intently despite the green tinge to his face. The requip mage gave a nervous sigh before turning to face them, her face blank. "I did promise I'd say, didn't I?" She gave a bitter smile.
"You did," Charle confirmed, white tail twitching impatiently. Despite the reassurance Wendy had given Gray close to an hour ago, she was worried for the sky dragon slayer. Especially after the vision she'd had.
Not that she'd told any of them about it.
Erza bit her lip for a moment, and then began to speak, her eyes flashing with grief and her tone mournful. "As I told you, I was once friends with Jellal. The way we met isn't exactly the nicest story, of course…
"My parents...they were not the kindest people," Erza admitted, her tone one of disgust. "They were cruel people who enjoyed placing pain on their child. I wasn't wanted, I hadn't been expected, and they hated me for it. Eventually, when I was nearly eight years old, they went too far, and I nearly lost an eye. If it wasn't for a skilled mage who secretly used magic to help me, I wouldn't have an eye at all. I was taken from them, and I couldn't have been more happy.
"I was sent elsewhere to live. I went to an orphanage, where I met a boy by the name of Jellal." Erza smiled fondly at the memory she was running through in her mind. "Most of the children - and the adults - in that place were just as cruel as my parents had been. I was scared, I was angry, and I didn't know how to do much after what I'd been through. Jellal was the only one kind enough to try and befriend me, and it was Jellal who taught me various things that I needed to learn. When I first began schooling, he helped me through the harder portions. He quickly became the person I was closest to and for the next three years, we were best friends.
"And then...I discovered I could use magic. The second she heard about it, the mage who'd helped me with my eye came to try and adopt me. She wanted to make sure I was taught correctly, wanted to make sure that I didn't go down the wrong path.
"Naturally, I saw it as her trying to take me away from Jellal." Erza gave a bitter laugh, and Gray exchanged a look with Charle. "It wasn't pretty. I told the woman that if she even tried, I'd disappear. She tried...and I disappeared with Jellal. We ran away, determined not to lose each other.
"We were only eleven years old at the time, we didn't even know how to make enough money to survive. But we stole a boat, made a home on an island two hours away from the main part of Fiore, and we went back and forth once a week for a few years, stealing food and whatever else we needed as we went. I helped Jellal master the magic he realized he'd been born with as I practiced my own, and we were happy. We even had a few more friends we brought home with us after a while. And I...I won't lie," she murmured mournfully, "I felt more than I should have felt towards someone who was only a friend.
"And then...things went wrong. When we were fifteen, Jellal vanished while we were out. I looked, and I looked, but I couldn't find him. The other three - our friends - had disappeared as well, and I didn't know what to do." Erza sighed heavily, closing her eyes. "So I sought out a guild by the name of Fairy Tail in hopes that I would be able to look for them and make money at the same time.
"The next I heard of Jellal was only a few years ago, when I was nineteen." Erza suddenly scowled, clenching her hand into an angry fist. "It was announced that a man by the name of Jellal Fernandes had been stealing the magic needed to recreate an Etherion Canon. He'd tricked them into thinking he was someone else, an innocent man by the name of Siegrain. He was thrown in prison, and I heard nothing of him nor my other friends after that." She gritted her teeth.
"I don't understand," Gray said suddenly. "Just what turned this guy into a criminal? From the sounds of it, he was a decent person until he disappeared."
"He was," Erza agreed, scowling. She was angry, he realized, with both herself and this Jellal. "He would have been an amazing example of what a Fairy Tail mage should be had he come to the guild with me. I want...I want to find out what he's done. I want to know why he's done it, and I want my friend to return to what he used to be, though I don't believe it possible. So I will ask you all this." Her dark eyes turned on them. "I want to be the one to kill Jellal. If he engages you in a fight, do not attempt to defeat him. Make way for me."
"Erza," Happy said uneasily, unnerved by the sudden murderous look she wore. "We don't kill…"
"He deserves it if he lays a hand on Lucy," Natsu said in a shaky yet dark tone, his head suddenly lifting. "And we're going to find out what he's done with her."
"We're here," Charle whispered, the vision flashing through her mind again.
This time, Wendy was crying over the body of the very woman they were trying to save.
What do you think of the different back story I created for Erza? My editor was a great help with that...she helped me create one for both her and Gray, as I decided I needed different ones for Between the Lines. Hope you enjoyed!
Reviews:
TigerArrowgirl: I'm always caught up on Fairy Tail! Read the newest chapter this morning and cried! Let me know if you remember that question!
AJDrakes: A lot of doom and gloom is fun though. :D
serioushugsies: I got seriously distracted and remained so the entire weekend, honestly. Silly television. Jellal needs to work on his people skills A LOT. XD
Uchida Akira: I'm glad!
Typhlosion8: The future is always dark in Fairy Tail and filled with light at the same time, isn't it?
Miya: I rather like Millianna, her design during the GMG was fantastic. Thank you!
Yami-The Lord of Darkness: Of course!
Masked Guest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I hope you continue to do so!
luckylucy77: No worries, this won't end for a LONG time. :D
PinkFireandGoldenStars: You'll have to wait and see. END may or may not make an appearance. I haven't decided yet. ;) Your question has been answered! And yep. Fourteen chapters. Thirteen now. It'll come quickly, have no worries.
Shidake: Angst is the best! I love angst. :D
Nekokittygirl: Of course! :D
Kinsutenekochan: We get to do what we wish. I love being a writer. Let's me do things I can't do in reality. ;)