Once again he found himself in that returning darkness , encompassing and blinding , however this time he felt a drastic difference in situation as more factors started to become apparent to him. That being , the darkness was more shadowing than rather complete , he could feel and hear movement extremely close by to himself and on himself , and the most notable one of all ,

He felt warm.

Incredibly warm.

Warm in a way that felt strangely familiar but somehow didn't feel so comforting.

"He wouldn't do this…No…He wouldn't…"

He could hear a voice whimpering softly in within ear shot of him strangely , feeling ragged breaths being shaken out of the figure he could feel holding him as it felt like fingers were raking through the top of his head , combing through his hair , but by the increasing speed and trembles he felt situated in this person's hold , he could tell there was something was off.

"Not to us…"

"Not to me…"

The disembodied voice continued , words being breathed lowly and in what he felt like was a state of fright as the pressure pressing his body against the warmth became more rigid and he felt himself being snuggled into soft clothed matter.

"Something's wrong…"

"It must be…"

The voice mumbled lowly , making him wonder who was being spoken to as the speech of the woman was incredibly soft. So soft to the point that he believed the outside world would not have been able to hear it , yet he could understand every word and somehow feel all the weight they held too.

Though in the midst of darkness and still unable to see what was happening , the boy tried to move his limbs about , or even try to catch a better glimpse of things , but strangely he was somehow incapacitated. Not in a way that felt threatening , but it seemed his limbs had taken a fixed position , holding onto something soft and clutching it firmly , and unable to lift the weight of his head like it was stuck where it rested.

It's not like he minded being like this , where he somehow felt safe in a way , even with the lack of understanding of what was happening. The warmth which pressed against him was something he wasn't opposed to , rather he wanted to meld into it more , but the thing that was stopping him from becoming consumed by the thought of such desires was the growing franticness of the movements against him.

Fingers still picking their way through tufts of his hair he could feel , becoming faster with each stroke and sparse breath that hit against his skin as he felt the warm weight he was pressed against him heaving.

There was something definitely wrong.

And with what he heard next , it made him realise a whole new factor to the circumstances.

"Rais wouldn't do this…"

Rais?

This woman who was talking , she was speaking about him? That Devil? Why would she be doing such a thing? And why did she sound so scared when talking about this?

He could feel his heart beat uncomfortably from hearing the mention of that man. Not just because the mere notion of him had him always feeling a weird way , but the fact that her voice when talking sounded so notably distressed even though it was barely a whisper.

And now that he was paying closer attention to the woman's voice , something familiar struck inside him as her grief-ridden tones continued to murmur near his ear and had the heat in his body turning cold when he made the connection.

That voice was his mother's.

She was the one talking about Rais.

"He wouldn't…"

"He's not that sort of man…"

He didn't realise it at first , but now he was really listening in , their voices were identical. The only thing that stopped him from initially realising was the fact her voice wasn't as rough and bellowing like he knew it to be.

It was dainty , weak , filled with fright.

And all he could ask was why?

As bewilderment started to fill him , he felt a drop of wetness dampen some part of his hair and more followed whilst the heaving he could feel becoming intense with each breath as he became aware that she was crying.

This realisation pulled at his own heart , and he wished that he would have been able to wipe her tears away and comfort her , but he could do nothing and he didn't understand why. And as the more prevalent her hushed sobs were becoming , the more that cruel weight of being there yet unable to do anything made him suffer.

Why was she crying? Was it because of that devil? Was he the one who was behind her being like this?

The thoughts started rambling through his addled mind as his heart only panged with the more apparent her sorrow was becoming. Enough to steal him away from his own thoughts temporarily as his heart slowly fragmented before he would be brought back to his brewing curiosity and fury.

That wouldn't have been a shock for him considering how much she suffered at his hand. And because of that a devil like him was deserving of nothing but absolute contempt for what he made her go through. Hearing her now as she was served to refresh that ever growing hate he had for Rais , making the flames burn brighter and deeper as the weight in him grew thicker.

However he was delivered from that short spark of hatred with what he heard next.

"My husband isn't like this…"

The words left her lips with a shake as he felt more streaming wetness mix in with his hair.

"I don't believe it…"

"Rais is not like this…"

Though now that he was registering her words , it became clear to him that she wasn't talking in regards to him , but strangely about him? Actually now that he thought of it , it didn't feel like her fear and fright was directed to the man in question at all.

"I know him….He's not…"

"I believe in him…"

"He's not this sort of person…"

But somewhere else.

And that really confused him.

As who would it be then?

Then it occurred to him , he actually had no understanding of what the hell was going on in the first place. What events had to occur for his mother to be in this state or even know where she was for her to be seeming so quiet yet distraught? Normally he knew her to be avid and bellowing when she was in grief , but here she wasn't , it's almost like she was hiding this sort of emotion from the outside world and he couldn't understand why.

Where was she?

Why was she sounding so frightened?

What was happening?

All these questions ravaged his innocent mind as he continued to hear her frail voice sound near his ear , making him begin to realise that she didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular. Not even him. But rather herself , and that really solidified his thought about her being in some state of fright and or anxiety.

And he really wanted to know what was making her be like this?

But with the sound that broke him away from his thoughts , he was soon to find out anyway.

Clang

There was some noise that rang not too far away from where he seemed to be , grating against his ears as it sounded like some keys being jiggled harshly before metallic creaking followed and then footsteps ensued.

Quite a few of them from what he could hear.

This brought him even more confusion.

And what caused him increased alarm was how the air suddenly seemed to turn thick and the warmth and movement against his being came to an uneventful still as it felt there was something impending.

He heard his mother's sobs suddenly trying to suppress themselves even more than they were , swallowing down her sorrow as her hands around him clamped down tightly , holding his body closer to her.

Yet the tears never stopped flowing.

"Of course…the bitch is still crying over her psycho lover..."

"Gods…How many months has it been since she's been in imprisonment and still doing this?"

"It's so fucking annoying..."

"I can't wait for the officials to finally decide on her sentence and take her off our hands…"

Completely new voices hit his ears , filled with a detestable sneer that instantly had his mouth turning sour from hearing this being said towards his mother. It served to cause what hurt was seizing his heart to morph into a rivalling level of disgust.

"What's wrong with you? Can't you just accept the damn fact that he left you to rot in his place whilst he does fuck all?"

"You're doing all this for a devil who clearly doesn't give a shit about you seeing he didn't think twice about fleeing the country without his desperate whore…"

"He probably never did."

"Hah! That's why he left you knocked up with his spawn and didn't give a fuck about it either."

"Really if you ask , it seems like all the sick bastard wanted was a fill of your goods…"

"Though now that he's used em up…you're useless to him."

"That's probably why he didn't even think to take you along with him when his plan went bust."

"What a man he is eh…?"

"Your 'beloved' husband."

But as that was forming in him , he felt the trembles in his mother force themselves to a stop as her sparse breaths deepened before she found the will to speak.

"Y-You've done something to him…"

"I-I know it…"

She breathed , this time louder than a whisper as her fingers locked into his hair pulled him in closer to her radiating warmth. He could feel the heaving of her body intensifying with what next left her lips in a spew.

"H-He wouldn't have a-abandoned u-us!"

"H-He w-wouldn't h-have a-abandoned m-me!"

Her voice cried out the loudest he had heard as of this instance , the weight of her shed tears burning in her tone as she struggled to keep herself intact and more wetness flowed down her face and dampened his locks as a result.

"R-Rais is n-not l-like t-that!"

"I-I d-don't b-believe i-it!"

"I-I'll n-never b-believe i-it!"

From what followed , there was a stark silence. Her tearful words had been left to dissipate in the air until the sound of returning venom became apparent. A scoff left from one of the unknown voices before he heard the next.

"That's your own misery then...We showed you all the evidence that's been sourced about his planning and you've heard all the testimonies about his involvement."

"If you choose to ignore that , that's on you."

"...It's unbelievable even after all that and all the suffering you've endured for his cause , you're still somehow adamant to plead for him like a desperate bimbo..."

"As if you really believe that deranged psychopath is actually anything more than the cold blooded criminal he proved himself to be."

"Despite all that is obvious about him and has been unveiled."

"Honestly , it's so fucking pathetic."

"You're so fucking pathetic."

The words were unnecessarily sharp , he could feel the impact they struck into his mother's being as she turned horribly numb and her cries were forced to silence again. It was obvious to him that what they said hurt her a lot and she wanted nothing more said to her.

That she wanted to be left alone.

And he hoped that would be the case.

But with the thickness forming in the air silently , and the vibe that somehow started to turn strange , he already could tell it wouldn't be like that. He could feel his heart beating vividly as he was left in this suffocating silence , the only comfort he had was the warmth scarcely radiating from her being , but even that fell inferior to the new aura he could feel surrounding him.

There was a gaze he could somehow feel in their direction , pinning and intense. It had his blood curdling and with the elongated silence that followed , he didn't like it. These people that had come , which he didn't even know how many of them there were , he still hadn't heard them leave.

But with what he heard next.

It told him that wasn't going to happen.

"But you know what...?"

"If you miss his dick so much…"

"...Why don't we give you some to keep you company?"

He had no idea what was being said , but from the tone being used to convey such words , he could tell it wasn't good. Whatever intentions these unknown voices seemed to have , he could feel something off with them.

Even though what they said came out as a question , it was obvious to him that there was no answer being sought.

A horrified gasp sounded against him as he could feel the woman's body come to a chilling still. Nothing able to come from her lips other than struggling breaths and speech as the trembles came back in her and he felt them intensely.

As if this fear was actually his own.

"N-No…"

The answer finally dropped from her lips after much trouble. He could feel her grip tighten on him even more protectively as it seemed her body was trying to shift elsewhere , but he could hear footsteps becoming louder and sounding in their direction.

"Come on Priestess…"

"Let's have a little fun~"

With the ending of those words , he heard that same metal grating return, however now it sounded like something was being done up and closed as that questionable speech was left to linger.

Hearing these people talking about fun , it made him believe that what he thought of fun and what they were thinking of fun were completely different things.

And that was confirmed by the returning fright ridden speech he could hear being choked out by the woman holding him , undoubtedly being thrown into another depth of grief and horror by just the mention of these intentions , and these beings accompanying her were revelling in it.

"N-No…"

"P-Please…"

"N-Not now…"

He could feel his body being shifted in some sort of direction and he was pulled impossibly close to the extinguished warmth that was cradling. Her breaths continued to sound choppy against his ears , unlined with unbroken sobs that threatened to expose her obvious helplessness as the footsteps kept following.

There was no answer given to her pleading , other than the continued pursuit of the terrified woman as he could feel her inching away somewhere else with him in her hold , becoming more messier in her movements as the footsteps grew closer.

"My s-son…"

"H-He's here…"

"P-Please n-no…"

Another plea left her lips , one he could hear laced with more tones of desperation than the last and all that happened was it was met by deaf ears. Instead of understanding , sniggers came from the darkness around them which somehow seemed deeper than before and avidly suffocating with the next words he heard spoken.

"Do you think that actually makes a difference…?"

He could feel his own heart beginning to race alongside as he didn't know what was going to happen to his mother , what these unseen people would do to her and the fact that him being here distressed her even more riddled him with more incomprehensive anxiety.

He felt even more wetness mixing with his locks as the woman was starting to go into fits through her sheer panic. Her hold on her was seized by the quaking resonating through her , but still she tried to make one more critical request.

"P-Please don't do this to me…"

"P-Please…"

"N-Not in front of h-him…"

From these words he heard , he could tell that whatever they had planned for her , she seemed to understand it already.

"N-Not n-now…"

Like as if this sort of thing had happened before.

"P-Please…"

"S-Stay b-back..."

That gave him no form of relief at all , in fact it had his blood pumping faster and he wanted to struggle but he couldn't. His body for some reason only remained latched onto her hold , stubborn not to let go just as much as she was of him , as if they were each other's only hopes in this impending moment.

"P-Please!"

The hopes that were inevitably going to be taken away

"N-NO!"

All of a sudden he felt a new pair of hands on him , rougher and larger than his mother's. Tearing him away from her grasp with no remorse , his body unable to do anything but let it happen , and hear her cries becoming frantic as it occurred.

This somehow felt so familiar to him.

The feeling of her warmth was replaced with an encompassing bitter cold that shocked his body. He could feel his limbs being almost crushed under an aggressive weight somehow as all he could do was look into the shadowy darkness around him , noticing that somehow the deepness was just as thick yet the shadows were starting to become more apparent to him.

Though before he could focus on that , he heard a loud thud on the floor , like something or someone had collapsed. Unable to see through his own means , he was only left wondering as fear seated deep inside him and he was forced to listen to the grievous lamenting of the woman that had once again become hysterical.

And that all the words she said next truly broke his heart.

"I-I'm begging y-you!"

"P-Please!"

"I-I'm l-literally a-at y-your f-feet!"

"I-I'm a-at y-your m-mercy!"

"D-Don't d-do t-this!"

"P-Please!"

Her voice became more and more inconsolable and eager to be listened to as he could hear her panic was no longer able to contain itself and all the signs of it were becoming apparent. He could feel his chest clench with the longer he listened to his mother's self humiliation as she was hopelessly pleading for her dignity.

Each word , each cry , each breath , he could feel her emotions strongly in them and his insides twisted greatly from hearing such.

"How rich…"

But it seemed like it wasn't having the same effect on these shadowed beings who were tormenting her. Instead they seemed to be getting some sort of sick pleasure from it and he was truly disgusted beyond words because of it.

"Look..."

"A devil begging…"

How could they be calling her a devil when she was in such a state? What was wrong with these people? She wasn't committing any crime or sin. She was helpless and begging in mortification , could these beings not hear that?!

"Haven't you learned yet bitch…?"

"There is no mercy for devils…"

That final line sent chills down him. With how callous it was said , and how reminiscent these exact words were to him. He could feel his own heart clenching tightly in bridled fright , as the woman's suffering truly started to seep into him like it was his own.

"N-No…P-Please…"

"I-I'm s-sorry…P-Please!"

How could they be so cruel and call her such? Regardless of what connection she had to The Devil himself , she was nothing like him , not now. She was innocent and fearing for her life , she was being targeted with ill intent and they were laughing about it like it was some funny joke.

"P-Please…!"

"N-Not i-in f-front o-of h-him!"

His disgust turned deeper on itself as he heard the same heart wrenching words coming from her lips desperately. Though unable to see what she was doing , he had a feeling it was something that would make him upset and these bastards were making fun of her because of it.

He heard her sniffling away , the sound of something else rustling as that thickening silence followed again , leaving her in the unknown before he could hear the sound of something like clothing being shifted.

Though the moment he heard that new sound , the greatest and most adamant plea ripped from her lips and echoed in his ears with distraught as his own face started to feel wet.

"P-PLEASE!"

His mother screamed , her vocal cords just able to rip out the word in the midst of being choked by sobs and breaking the air's thickness. Silence ensued again and he hoped that her request would be heeded , but that hope was immediately extinguished with the words that were sneered in response.

"As if he would understand anything…"

He didn't understand anything , that was correct. But he didn't need to , to understand these people were going to harm her and they were sick. His body desperately tried to move but all he could do was fail on his own attempts as some invisible bondage kept him stationary whilst his face continued to moisten.

And his futility burned him even deeper when he heard the shifting of clothing return in some way and shuffling on the floor not too far away from him as his mother's voice entered his senses again.

"W-What's a-actually w-wrong w-with y-you…?"

Her voice had come down from the terror that it was encapsulated by , now holding a subdued tone of horror which somehow struck out to him even more as he could hear the loss of hope laced in her words.

"If you didn't want this stuff to happen to you…you shouldn't have plotted against your own people with that sociopathic cunt."

"The people who revered you , cherished you , admired you...And you had no problem turning on for the will of no one other than a blood lusting bastard…"

"And she still has the audacity to claim to be innocent…"

"Fucking disgusting."

Footsteps ensued again in the background , feeling the air return to that suffocating thickness or even more as he could hear the shuffling become more intense and messy.

"Now face your disgrace as you've earned it you filthy bitch."

The shuffling came to an awkward end , as if something suddenly caused the movement to stop but he didn't know what. The sound of whimpering filled the darkness again as the footsteps also came to an ominous halt too and they were all left in waiting.

"Besides…we're in need of extracting some reward for keeping watch over a she devil."

The words loomed as a threat , he felt a disgusting meaning being insinuated by these shadows who were claiming to want a 'reward'. What kind of reward could have possibly been worth terrorising his mother like this?

Was that supposed to be some sort of prize for them?

He was barely able to think more on that as another bout of questionable speech sounded against the darkness and it sent chills down his spine.

"And…"

Especially with what came next.

"It's getting boring again just watching you…."

With no warning he heard something descending onto the floor in a crash , and instantaneously the sound of fervid struggling ensued. Cries and screams breaking from her lips with each scarce breath as it sounded like clothing was being moved or removed in some way.

"P-PLEASE!"

"Y-YOU W-WOULDN'T!"

"Y-YOU C-CAN'T!"

"P-PLEASE!"

Her voice had returned at full force , succeeding even her previous screams as her tones pierced the darkness just by the sheer shrillness she reached.

"S-STOP!"

He could hear struggle becoming even more aggressive and soon hearing resonating slaps echo across the darkness and threaten to silence her hysteria as a new warning was posed.

"Stop fucking struggling you bitch and shut the fuck up…"

"Unless you want his attention or something?"

With the announcement of those words , he felt his body being turned in some way again , and the shadows were still present. He couldn't make out anything , but things were starting to get sharper from the dark haze he had been stuck in as if he was somehow becoming more present in the situation.

"N-NO! P-PLEASE!"

The cry left her before she even had a chance to manage her loudness , making him worry as to what all was happening in the dark and he was somehow being used as a form of threat towards her for compliance.

And it seemed that reaction was both wanted but irritating too with the tone that was used to address the poor woman before another venomous spat was made.

"You want us to give him a prime view of what a little fuckslut his mother is?"

"How despicably hungry she is for just some cock."

"That she'll do anything just to be riding some psychopathic bastard's dick?"

The sound of clothing being torn apart and removed started to hit his ears , and the dark picture in front of him kept starting to get clearer and somehow he could make more details out even in the lack of light , but the screams just got more harrowing as he did.

"G-GOD! N-NO!"

SMACK

"I thought I told you to shut up?"

"You're even more revolting than we thought."

The sound of the hit rang sharply in his ears. His own skin felt the shattering impact as if he was the one struck with such brutality , and found that the throat ripping screams of his mother had been reduced to a whimpering mess as she finally started to comply with their demands.

"I-I'll k-keep q-quiet…I-I'm s-sorry…."

"P-Please…"

"J-Just s-spare h-him…"

"H-He d-doesn't n-need t-to see t-this!"

"P-Please!"

Her voice's softness now seemed so forced. He could tell that she was on the verge to cry and shout again out of her own sanity but what these bastards were doing was preventing her from doing so.

Though even with trying to comply with their threats , he could hear she was incapable of completely stifling her lament as it all struck out to him. But whether that was because of her own hysteria or his attention towards her , he wasn't sure.

The sound of more fabric being torn off entered his ears again , this time the action being done with no care or shame being heard. The action resonated with him on a scarily deep level as he was fully starting to realise what was actually happening to her at the hands of these fiends.

They were like them.

No.

They were them.

As that thought rooted into his brain , he could feel a heaviness starting to lift away from him somehow , and the details in the darkness starting to take more form though he still wasn't sure of what he was looking at.

But it seemed even if he didn't ,

It's not like he would be left knowing.

"Oh look , it seems like this was fated to happen to begin with."

"Bad luck for you Priestess~"

"Seems like the spawn wants to see the sad reality that is his mother for himself…"

A voice sneered as he felt a look shot in his direction. The whole thickness of the atmosphere breaking on itself and twisting into something more vile as his mother's panic started to come back in all it's entirety.

"N-No…"

More fabric was being ripped and now he could start making out something moving in the shadows and being thrown around as something was on the floor.

"N-No…!"

Laughter started to fill the cracks of the darkness as it felt like his senses were continuing to sharpen and his body being directed more in some direction whilst his limbs were starting to move more freely.

"P-Please…"

Her voice was starting to distort to him as he heard the sound of some wet like action taking place , and whilst doing so he could feel the back of his head being pulled up as he was made to rest on a cold surface stomach down whilst the sense of feeling started to seize his cold and damp face.

"D-Don't look!"

"Instead of keeping you quiet...Let's have you sing one of your lovely songs for us again priestess~"

"Nice and loud , with that sweet voice we know you to have…"

The darkness covering his eyes was stopping to obscure him , the haze was fully starting to clear. He felt both much more aware of the situation yet distant as colours other than black started to appear to him.

"I'm sure everyone would love to hear them…"

"Including this one here …"

Though as images were finally beginning to make sense to him and for the first time he was beginning to see something other than pitch darkness , as the sounds of unspoken disgust continued to commence with his addled senses , the first thing that he caught sight of was not the action they wanted him to witness.

"N-NO!"

But instead it was their...

"J-JELLAL!"

Distorted...

"D-DON'T! L-LOOK!"

Smiles...

"J-JELLAL!"

"!"

The young bluenet woke up in a fit of panic , his being sprung up in a flash from his mattress , his body and face completely drenched in sweat and his eyes being bloodshot and wide as his throat felt choked from the sheer suffocation he was feeling like nothing before.

His large bronze orbs stilled as he looked at the wall , the image that had been forming in his mind had been dispersed with the awakening of him from that vivid nightmare. His chest heaved deeply as he felt almost a sickening twist as his stomach that had the back of his throat burning.

His hand covered his vacillating lips , taking a few moments to really centre himself back from the horrid experience and allow those trembles that were resonating throughout him to leave him enough so he could feel he could breathe again with more ease.

His wide eyes just blinked continuously into his moonlit room , using the sparing silver rays to wash his thoughts and memory of that awful speculation and what ever of it was recollected.

'That dream was so bad…'

'So so bad…'

And not just bad , it was probably the worst one out of those returning night terrors. Which said a lot as he had many questionable dreams , many that would leave him in sweats and shivers , but none that would have him feeling physically sick and tormented like this.

Whether that was because of what happened in the dream or how vivid it actually was compared to the rest , he didn't know. But he had never been so affected like this before.

Jellal took his time to breathe in and out deeply , believing in doing so that it would help quell the nausea that was stirring up in him , and thankfully it did seem to do something as the churning in his stomach did seem to become less present. But even after taking who knows how much time to calm down himself , he could still feel the shaking present in being so brightly.

He swallowed thickly , stopping any threatening bile from coming up and taking another lap of timely inhales before moving his hands to wipe down his cold and tear stained face.

He could feel the sides of his face stinging rather sharply , both from the tears and the saltiness of his sorrow searing his healing skin as he was delivered back to his senses. From the rawness of the sting , it made him wonder how much he had been crying or when he started with these things he never knew.

Though he had finally been able to quell his aversion enough to come back to his own thoughts , he couldn't help but wonder why in the world he had such a questionable and terrifying dream. In fact why he had all of these questionable and terrifying dreams.

Because something he noticed in all of them now was they held the same woman in each one. Some way or another , it was his mother always at the brunt of some punishment or pain and she'd be screaming and crying , asking for help but no one would give her it.

They would enjoy her suffering.

Justifying her wrong treatment by calling her a devil , and that thought alone turned his blood deadly cold.

'I was called a devil…'

'Is this stuff going to start happening to me?'

The thought couldn't be ignored as the very name brought him back to the moment in time when it had all turned around for him. Regardless of how much time had passed , he had not been able to forget that ordeal and he didn't know if he ever would because it shocked him so greatly.

'No it can't be…'

'I know I'm not a devil…'

He thought to himself with intent to give him solace , as he knew he was nothing like his father. Though the children who called him one did have him hesitant with anxiety , he didn't want to give too much thought to that as he wanted to believe he wasn't an evil soul because he tried his best to be a good person.

He would never cause anyone harm.

He never wanted to either.

Just like his idol.

However that didn't remove the thought that his mother had suffered so much and she was called the same. The fact that she was made to cry and scream was all tied into the fact that the people called her a 'devil' , and from this latest dream it seemed that she had done something not just to anger the gods but the people of the country too.

And they were doing this to her because of it.

It was sick , vile , cruel and so many more things. To the point that he wondered that even if she is a devil , did she truly deserve to suffer like this? But then again the thought that he had was , he didn't know everything and how it happened so maybe this was all happening in good judgement?

He still wasn't aware of what exactly The Devil did and neither his mother did with him , but from this dream it appeared to be something very serious and she was speaking in favour of The Devil , so maybe that's why they were probably also calling her a devil too?

And that was something his mother would have been sadly guilty of but not him , so he couldn't have that same sort of punishment done.

That being said though,

He did find it hard to believe though the woman like that he had witnessed in his dreams could be anything likened to the woman he knew his mother , and they could both be named a she devil.

Maybe he would agree with the monstrous mad woman , but not the fearful and helpless one that he heard.

The train of thought made him sweat as he recalled every vicious thing he had witnessed in these dreams happening to his mother , and it made him start to consider actually how he was seeing and hearing these sorts of scenarios?

Things that he couldn't recall seeing , but somehow manifested in these dreaded nightmares.

Was it something his mind was making up from having heard such screaming and shouting or was there something else to it? Because he didn't know how something he hadn't believed to have seen could have become present in his dreams like that , and only then.

But then why was it so vivid?

And why did it feel so familiar yet not?

And what of these conversations he was hearing?

It was really strange.

As Jellal came to the end of his ruminations , an urge rooted in his body that he felt had to be attended to before he even tried to go to sleep. And that was to see her again.

His mother.

To give him peace of mind.

It was a must.

He didn't care at this point if this was something he would get in trouble for because it was way past his bedtime , from the horrors he witnessed about her and how her screams and cries tortured him , he wanted to see her in one piece and be allowed to believe she was okay now and not suffering like the woman had in his recent dream.

'I have to see her.'

Wordlessly jumping off his mattress , he could still feel his nerves wracked as he made a beeline for his door , not caring that he didn't close the door on him as he stepped out before dashing down to the room that held his mother.

With her being so occupied in his mind , he didn't seem to notice how quiet and still the house was , or even if any stone-faced ladies were present or not. All he cared about was getting a good look at her , feeling her presence and making sure she was okay , and then he would leave after seeing what he needed.

His legs shook like an earthquake with every step he took towards her room , the queasiness also beginning to return as his mind brought him back to remembering and reliving those horrid dreams inside him. Pressing him even more to go and meet her , regardless of what it would result in as he felt his heart pounding violently in his chest.

Swallowing thickly , the bluenet did not care to wait for anyone to open the door for him , simply taking the initiative to throw open the door with his burst of strength that came through in his nerves before the sight of the woman he wanted to see the most was in front of him.

His trembling figure came to a still as his large orbs rested on the sleeping figure that was bound down to the mattress she slept on by thick iron shackles that rested at her ankles and wrists , holding her put in the middle of her stony confines. A breath choked him as he could feel his eyes glaze over in another round of unshed tears as he made no haste to run up to her and take her into an embrace.

Sobs started to leave his weighted throat immediately as he collapsed beside her and wrapped his arms as much as he could around her clothed body. His fingers held her tightly to him like he had in the dream and he buried himself into that memorable warmth as her hair soaked up his excess of tears and muffled his sorrow that wracked him.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"I-I'm so sorry…"

He didn't even know why he was apologising. All that he knew was he just wanted to do so. Because of all that woman suffered in his dreams. Being put through unexplainable cruelty , being made to shed countless tears and streams of blood , being made to scream and cry without end , and for being so helpless throughout it.

"I-I'm so so sorry…"

He didn't know if it was real or not , that thought alone terrified him to a point he didn't want to give mind. But even the fact his mind contained just disturbing instances happening to his mother , he just wanted to tell her what the world didn't and give her the comfort that she hadn't in those vicious dreams.

Regardless of what she was , devil or not.

He wanted to make those amends.

As Jellal continued to bury his head into the lifeless like body , he allowed his mind to truly let out the pent up trauma that had tortured him for these days in her unrequited embrace. His eyes just overflowed with tears to the point he didn't know if they would ever end , all being soaked up by her sprawled out midnight locks and the wetness being replaced with torrent upon torrent.

Allowing himself to drown out from the darkness that surrounded his mind and soul in the comfort of the midnight haired woman's embrace as he sought to lose himself senseless in whatever he could claim as her warmth for solace and give himself the heavily due release he was in need of.

Time went by and he couldn't tell how long he had been there. Simply lost in his throes of sorrow , the passing hours became something irrelevant for him as his senses became blind to the mundane world around him.

The only indications of what were his knee caps were hurting and or numb , his blood circulation having come to a halt in his lower half and his throat that was feeling insanely dry.

That along with the lights in the sky he got enough of a glimpse of to know were in the process of evolving. Breaking through the softened hues of the velvet night sky and bringing a new myriad of colours throughout the heavens.

And maybe by the rare sound of the birds which were waking up from the midst of their slumber , calling out to the world in solace with their beautiful songs that were intertwined with the remaining darkness of the night and strengthening with the arriving morning.

His head eventually lifted up from resting on her torso , stifling back the cries that had dried out yet wanted to come. His tear glazed orbs looked over at the motionless face of his mother , her dark hair having covered the majority of her features in the midst of slumber and barely moving since.

She hadn't moved once throughout the time , but he wasn't worried as he could hear her breathing , felt her chest heaving , and her heart beating which told him she was alive.

The reason why she had been so incapacitated (excluding the reasoning of her bounds) , he deduced that it had to either be due to the powder the ladies would give her , or maybe had something to do with the empty bottles that were littered nearby , which she must have been drinking from again before she had been cuffed down.

Though honestly...whatever the reason , in some way he was kind of thankful. Even if unrequited , this form of peace he found just being near her was enough to bring his wracked mind back to a calmed state , and he wouldn't have been able to do that unless she was like this.

It was bittersweet.

However, with how long he had been here without permission , and before he could get in trouble , he should have got going before a stone-faced lady could get him in trouble. Taking a breath and reluctantly removing his fingers that had become clamped around her , he finally removed himself from the midnight haired lady and was going to say his farewells for what was left of the night.

"I hope you're sleeping well."

"And you're having good dreams."

He whispered with a soft and tearful tone before letting go of her entirely and turning around to make his exit. His legs dragged him with the weight that had accumulated in them , feeling pins and needles sticking to him and making him wince as he tried to walk it off.

Though as he was about to make his way out , as the rays of twilight shone through the barred windows of his mother's confinement , he caught from the side of his eye the sight of blue and white being highlighted on the floor.

'The flower!'

He had completely forgotten about that , and seeing it there made his tired mind curious if the gift had been touched at any point by her. A lot of time had passed and he hoped by then that she would have gotten a chance to look at it.

His dark orbs shone with hope as he changed his course of direction and walked to the placement of the flower which was beside the stone wall on the floor.

'Did she possibly try to look at it?'

He thought to himself as he bent down to inspect the flower , hope soon turning to disappointment as it became apparent to him that the thing had not been touched since he left it.

With the petals wilting and starting to take a soiled tone , and the flower looking exactly the same with how he gave it in it's exact placement , dried bloodstains coating the stem and all along with the blood spots that had darkened the concrete floor. Even after all these days , it hadn't even been touched.

'She didn't…'

The sight of this was saddening to him for some reason , as if his symbol of love for her and request for forgiveness was being left to rot on the side. The thought of that pained him and he could feel a pulse in his heart , but he swallowed whatever negativity threatened him to trouble him as he tried to think of other possible factors.

'Maybe she didn't like it…'

'I'll get her a better one if that's the case.'

'And I'll keep doing so until I find one she will like!'

He thought to himself with some form of clinging hope before finally starting to make his way out of the room , his feet about to sluggishly take him back to his own room as his tired features looked down at the floor behind him whilst he sighed from the eventful night.

Though , as Jellal was about to make his departure , when he was about to exit the door archway , he found his being collided with something in front of him that completely took him off guard.

Well not something.

But someone.

His dimmed bronzed orbs had widened with alarm as he looked up and found one of the stone-faced ladies right in front of him. His features froze with panic that washed away what fatigue wanted to claim him as he recognised instantly who it was by the intense gaze that was looking down at him.

Mika.

Whatever he had been thinking had been thrown out of the window as new thoughts started to plague the noirette in front of him as shivers returned to his spine.

'Oh no…'

The young child couldn't believe he had bumped into her , or actually that she was there. And that made him start to question , how long had she been there? Had she been there the entire time? Did she come now? What did she see? How did he not hear her?

He was mentally face-palming for not closing the door behind him , he was so invested in his emotions that he really did not care about the consequences then if he would get caught. And with how stupid he had been for being so abrupt with everything and not taking the precautions needed to keep himself from getting into further trouble.

'She caught me…'

His throat thickened with anxiety , his gaze unable to move from her unreadable gaze that was piercing through him from her towering figure. His fingers subconsciously started to play with each other to help quell his anxiety as he didn't know what was going to come of this.

Last time Mika caught him outside of his room without permission , he went to sleep with severely bloody palms that didn't heal for what he thought to be months. And now that she had done it again , what was she going to do with him this time?

How cruel would she be now? What scars would she leave on him now? Would it be with the cane or something new? How badly would she make him suffer now that he had been caught a second time disobeying orders?

That thought alone was becoming enough for his body to tremble violently from his impending chastisement.

Whimpers left his lips as he could feel the noirette finally making a movement after so long. His being already in trembles as he could already imagine the shouting and punishment he would have to endure for doing this stupidity again.

One of her bandaged hands rested on her other arm as her body seemed to almost sway , using the door frame as a support to her weight as her head cocked lazily. This behaviour was really strange to him and he wondered why she was doing such , but now that he was taking a better observation of her face , he realised things that he hadn't before.

Her eyes were intense but they didn't seem truly focused. The skin around them was somewhat dark , purplish or something like that and her complexion being pale but slightly flushed as her appearance looked more disoriented than normal with her hair being rather messy and her face just looking so off.

This look was incredibly odd to him , as he knew the stone faced ladies to be rather prim and proper in their appearance. Some more than others , but they always looked fairly presentable and well put. But she didn't look anything like that at all now.

She looked so drained.

And strange.

And when she finally spoke,

He knew why.

"Just…"

Her breath smelt strong.

Like that drink they always smelt of.

Like his mother now started to smell of.

Why was she also doing the same thing?

The smell took him off guard , and even more so when he felt the noirette's hand place on his shoulder languidly and direct him out of the room , completely lacking that aggression he knew her to have which had him puzzled.

But what really did not make sense to him , was what she told him next.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again…"

As that was the last thing she left him with for the night.