"Yes, do not look so surprised. To be honest, this was far..far more sinister than whatever you had just seen, Jellal Fernandes", the man sneered and switched the video.
This video was showing a place close to the forest and showed Jellal standing with a couple of men wearing black coloured cloaks.
"I request silence from the audience for a few minutes", he requested and played the video.
Video Start
"Oi, Jellal! What the hell, man? I thought you would have finished the job. What's with this D-class botched up job?"
"Exactly! What's going to happen now? That bitchy queen will double her security, and our plan will be delayed indefinitely"
"Well, shut up! I know that I was the one who screwed up. Luck favoured her. She tripped on a stone and I missed. It won't happen again", Jellal snapped at the two men who sighed in response.
"Considering the event that we accomplish our mission, you know you have to go public, Jellal"
"Of course I do"
"And that would mean you would have to go against your wife, your kid, your guild and Fairy Tail. I...I don't know, I think it is too hard"
Instantly, Jellal grabbed the man by the collar and slammed him against a tree nearby.
"If you don't have the guts to cross the entire bridge, say so and I can give you a merciful death. As for what you said...they are liabilities. Kill them all, and don't leave a single one behind"
"E...Even your daughter?"
At that moment, Jellal turned towards him and exposed a part of his neck. It was only an instant, but Erza's keen eyes caught a soft red mark peeking from his shirt - a hickey she had given him early that morning when they were busy canoodling in bed.
If it was entirely staged, that should not have been there. His gait, his aura, the throw of his voice, his mannerisms...all of them belonged to her husband and Erza's faith began to drop every second.
"What did I just say? I will first take out Laxus. It will be difficult, I know. That man...each time we fight he gets stronger, and to assure my victory I might have to use underhanded techniques. I will deal with Laxus, and when he's dead, Mirajane will be in a shock. We will use that moment to finish her off. With those two gone, Fairy Tail should be in chaos for a while. That time, you guys kill Erza and Azure. Erza would be a handful, so separate Azure from her. That would weaken her confidence and her strength might drop to your level. As for Crime Sorciere, I have made a fake corpse of myself and have planted some evidence of their presence in the area of attack. Well, prison is nothing new to them"
"But..."
"You know what, forget it. I will kill Erza and Azure myself"
"She's just a chi...(groan)"
The man dropped down to his knees and coughed out some blood. Jellal kneeled down and slammed his hand against his throat.
"That child will grow up with vengeance burning through her veins. The man in front of you is a perfect example of such a child. They let me live, and now they are all dead. I am not going to make the same mistake. Erza Scarlet and Azure Fernandes will die...tonight...by my own hands. Tonight, everyone in Fairy Tail will die. Tonight, marks the beginning of our era"
Video End
The representative began to show various sorts of proof and other possibilities bringing the Meteor mage as the one and only suspect in the attack.
But the video...it was as if it was perfectly synced - a massive explosion tore the ears of the people in the audience, and the council started to search the surveillance lacrima one by one. Even if his image was faked, his magic was executed with the same precision and Jellal was instantly checked for marks on his body and there were no changes - from a third person's point of view, the man in the video was Jellal Fernandes.
It was just as he had said. If he was not caught, the entirety of Fairy Tail would have been in flames. It was by pure luck, that the only damage sustained was the loss of the building. The members of the guild stared with a variety of feelings - grief, shock, betrayal, but the strongest one was anger.
"You...YOU BASTARD! HOW DID YOU FORGE THIS VIDEO AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST ME PERSONALLY?", Jellal roared as he was ready to vault over the railing to attack the representative.
Before he could do so, a jolt of electricity struck him on the spot and Jellal dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Jellal lazily scanned his surroundings and his heart dropped on seeing the accusing glares of some of his acquaintances. He had no proof about his innocence. The mission too, was an abysmal failure as the target was nowhere in sight and Jellal put all the pieces together. Still, he had no proof.
"That...That is not me...believe me", he wheezed as his body cackled with electricity and smoke. Even though he was seething in pain, Jellal got up to face the queen.
"Your...Your majesty, that..."
"FERNANDES!", a beastly voice roared and Jellal felt a massive fist slam into his cheek. Jellal was sent skidding across the floor, but almost instantly recovered. Even then, the impact of the punch was almost second to none. Only one man had such a powerful punch.
"Laxus, listen to me..."
"I loved you like my own brother you fucking bastard!", the blonde-haired mage roared as he kneed the Meteor mage's chest, which he barely blocked with his two hands.
"And yet..you plan to betray me, kill my wife AND kill the woman who is like a little sister to me", he continued as he punched Jellal's gut twice, causing the aquamarine-haired man to drop down to the floor again.
"Believe me...Laxus, that...that thing, it is not me. If I were to do something like that, do you think I would do such a sloppy job? How else did I manage to run Crime Sorciere?", he pleaded his best friend, but it only succeeded in angering the man even further. Laxus was in no mood to listen to reason.
"How I want to kill you as painfully as possible...but then it would make me no different than you - a heartless killer", he seethed and clenched his fists to throw another flurry of attacks, but Mirajane caught his hand.
"Laxus, leave him", she whispered, completely avoiding Jellal's face. They were not as close as Erza and Laxus, but were close enough to be called friends - more than acquaintances, but less than comrades. When Mirajane refused to acknowledge his existence, it took another toll on him.
"IF...IF you EVER get out of jail in one piece, don't you dare show your face anywhere NEAR my guild, traitor", she roared and guided her raging husband before he could do anything he might regret.
Spitting out some blood from that altercation with Laxus, Jellal stared at his guild with woozy eyes, praying for a different opinion, but all he could see was the disappointed faces of the people he had lived and worked for. At that point, he ahd almost given up hope.
True, the glares of his comrades wrung his heart, but the sobbing face of Meredy was far too much to handle. The girl he cared for as his own little sister was staring at him the same way she would look at her enemies.
He had seen that face only once - the time he had almost sacrificed himself for her sake. It was painful enough to see that face when she hugged him, sobbing like a toddler in his chest, but it was way too difficult to be on the other side.
He further looked around to see the frightening glares of Kagura and Millianna and various other acquaintances. Most of them were murmuring amongst themselves, some of them openly cursing, some being held back. It would be difficult to get over this, but he knew that he could. He still had her by his side. That's all he ever needed.
Erza walked forward, holding their sobbing toddler in her arms. Her hair covered her face and she stood a foot away from him as she maintained silence.
"E...Erza, go home. There is some sort of mistake here. I will find out who did this, don't worry at all. We...We will get past this", he reassured her as he wiped some blood away from his lips. His breathing had slowed down. Even if one of Laxus' punches had cracked his rib cage or punctured his lung, he would not be too surprised.
"P...Papa, Papa!", Azure sobbed from her mother's embrace as she frantically reached for her father, flinging her little arms in various patterns. Flashing her a weak smile that obviously did not meet his eyes, Jellal reached for his daughter.
A ringing voice blared inside his head and when he opened his eyes, he was lying flat on his back at least a good five feet away from where he spoke to his wife.
To his horror, she was kneeling down in a feral pose with her right fist stretched out and he felt the blood from his nose block his nasal cavity. He got up to let the blood out and stared at his wife who still had her scarlet hair covering her face.
"E...Erza -"
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY DAUGHTER, YOU FUCKING BEAST", she bellowed as she flashed him one of her strongest glares while protectively hugging her daughter.
"What are you talking about?", he whispered as he weakly stood up on his feet and limped towards the two of them. Erza dropped her daughter on the ground and charged at Jellal with a flurry of punches and kicks aimed all over his body. Jellal took no initiatives to block her attacks and by the time she was done with her onslaught, he was a bloody mess. On his last legs, he grabbed on to her shoulders and looked at her sobbing face.
"Do you really believe that I want to kill you? Have we never seen our abilities get copied or have we never fought out mages disguising themselves as us? Have I ever yelled at Azure? How can you think that I am plotting to kill her? I lived for YOU, Erza!! Why would I be willing to take away my only reason to live?", he asked her with quivering lips, and Azure still reached for her father not understanding the situation. Erza picked her back up, but did not move back.
Ignoring her previous warning, Jellal reached for his daughter with his bloodied hand being an inch away from her small, chubby, cherub-like hand.
It was just an inch, perhaps even lesser than that and he would have held her hand once more, but a red blur darted forward and a massive jolt of pain stung his throat.
Erza was standing a foot away from him, with Azure in her left arm and her katana in her right arm. But only a small portion of her katana was seen. He was way too close to the handle, far..far too close.
He bent down to see her katana stabbed just an inch away from a vital point in his throat. Erza twisted her katana and dragged it above, slashing a gaping hole in his left collarbone area, spraying herself and him with his blood and Jellal dropped back to his knees, cupping the newly opened wound and the blinding pain was taking its toll on him.
Erza pointed her katana to the tip of his Adam's apple and laughed with no humour in her voice.
"Completely tricked me didn't you? You were right, you know? All those years back. My biggest weakness is my trust. I never should have trusted you, you piece of filth. I thought you could never lie to me, but wow! What an actor you are! Remember I told you that a part of me would always respect and love you even if hated each other? Where do I go and bury that part of mine? How should I kill it?", she asked him with tears in her eyes.
"No. I'm being framed, Erza. Trust me", he pleaded with her in a rasping voice, and he could feel his consciousness beginning to fade.
"Uhh, Erza I...I don't think he did it", a faint voice whispered from the crowd and Jellal could faintly see a dash of blonde hair cover the mouth of someone with pink hair.
"The same thing Laxus said. If you even manage to come out of your hell hole, don't bother setting foot in Fairy Tail, and don't you dare touch my children", she warned him.
"Children?", he asked softly, spitting out more blood.
"Yes, Jellal. Children. I wanted to surprise you, but it turns out that I am the one who got the bigger surprise", she whispered and turned back.
"Please, Erza. Trust me", he whispered like a broken tape recorder and Erza turned again to face him. Jellal was never the religious type. But that moment, he prayed to whatever entity that looked over him to just have a second thought, and help convince his wife that she was being hasty. But unsurprisingly, she softly shook her head.
"I don't think I ever will", she replied and she saw a tear drop down his face. The entire time he was beaten up and ridiculed, but it did not faze him. Why? Why did he have to tear up at that moment? Erza cursed the part of her that still wanted to hug him and nurse his wound, but she kept the part of her at bay and buried herself into the crowd.
Jellal dropped down to the ground instantly and the last set of voices he could hear was further ridiculing from the crowd and the voice of the queen sentencing him to indefinite rigorous imprisonment and a death sentence if he behaved well.
2 and a Half Years Later
Erza gave birth to a son after that entire Jellal fiasco. Much to her horror, he was an exact copy of Azure which meant that Jellal's genes had gained dominance again. But she loved the little one to bits and pieces nonetheless. Perhaps his affection towards her was true? Erza shook away the thoughts regarding her so-called husband and turned her thoughts back to her little ones.
Cerulean Scarlet - the name somehow managed to juxtapose itself, but she had already prepared a list of names the day she learned that she was expecting a child, and the little boy stayed true to his name - attaining a crippling addiction towards Blueberry cake at the ripe age of one and inducing the same in his sister - truly her own children. Like Jellal, he held a higher affinity to magic and Erza could swear that she once saw him use Thought Projection, albeit accidentally. Further attempts to reenact the event proved fruitless. His birthday was approaching in a couple of months and Erza walked back home thinking of a nice present for him, and suddenly her thoughts traveled back to the events of the past two years.
In a year, Erza eventually left Fairy Tail - the memories with Jellal were far too severe there and she could no longer concentrate on her quests.
The members would always remain her family - there was absolutely no doubt in that. A few months post her son's birth, Hisui offered Erza the position of Captain in a new task force centered around the public.
She wanted to use Erza's charisma as the right bridge to close the communication gap between the common folk and the magic council, and the Requip mage was overjoyed to do so.
Leaving her usual Heart Kreuz armour, Erza now commonly wore her hair in a ponytail with a blue ribbon, and a silver and red coloured armour that matched the vibrant colour of her hair with matching silver and red thigh-high boots with metal enforced for protection not at the cost of movement.
"That's all for today! Dismissed!", she roared and her direct squad dispersed. Erza sighed in relief at the thought of going back home to spend some quality time with her children. Being a single mother was far too difficult, and perhaps she had taken the difficulties of some characters in her novels far too lightly and that karma had come back to bite her.
Her train of thoughts broke when her personal lacrima phone started to ring and Erza instantly picked up, avoiding the cacophonous noise.
It was from Laxus and it was unusual. It was not a weekend and Laxus never called her so late unless it was an emergency.
Erza's suspicion proved to be right when she heard Mirajane softly sobbing in the background and there was a lot of murmur in the background with Natsu repeating "I told you so" incoherently.
Erza looked around and saw a few people pointing towards her and talking to each other. They were throwing pitiful looks at her and walked away on eye contact.
"Laxus, what is wrong? Is everyone all right? Is anyone hurt?", she asked frantically and the suspense began to grow when Laxus maintained his silence.
"Erza...", Laxus spoke from the other end in a cracking voice.
"Is Mira fine? Is something wrong with Lara?", Erza asked in concern regarding Laxus and Mira's daughter but she just heard her close friend slap his forehead on the other side while trying to fight back tears.
"Jellal...Jellal was innocent, Erza"
To be continued...