3rd POV
"Let's see who can pull the trigger faster, shall we!!!!???? Blow each other's brains out, what do you say!!???" A maniacal shit eating grin plastered across his face as he stared into the eyes of the man across from him.
"Put the gun down, sir, or I'm going to have t-" the officer began, sweat rolling down his temple as he watched the cameras behind Jellal.
"What!? What are you gonna do, shoot? I have a gun too, man, I'd get that brain uh yours checked, dumb ass." Jellal threatened, taking a step forward and plastering the opposite gun's end to his forehead. "Fucking shoot, I dare you." He whispered. And for a moment, the walkie talkie attached to the man's belt sounded, the woman alerting him hurriedly that she had found the room. Reaching down to respond, the man lowered his head for a moment and clicked a button to open his microphone.
BANG
With a thud, the man hit the floor in an instant, blood oozing from where Jellal had shot him in the chest. "Stupid move, what kind of people do they hire as police these days?"
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
Jellal continued, landing seven different shots across the police's body on the floor and gripping his own locks with his remaining hand. Maniacally stumbling out the door, he bent his knees, nearly for only a fraction of a second in order to gain momentum and sped down the halls for the remaining police officer, blood splattered clothes sticking to his toned skin.
~~~
"What was that?" Denver shot straight up from his seat, the loud sounds of bullets firing alerting him of danger. Erza followed his lead, preparing her weapon with haste before taking a step forward. Gray swung an arm out in front of her, gesturing back to the seat she sat in. "Sit down, I'm going to check." Rolling her eyes, Bethel obeyed and sat peacefully back down in her original seat. Walking down the halls of Phoenix, an eerily wrong feeling smacked Denver in the chest. A feeling that told him something was wrong. Immediately, "Juvia" he thought, the vehemently anxious blood coarsing through his veins blurring his sense of where he was going. He was lucky he even made it to the cellar. On the floor in front of it was a black baton, rolling down and into the cavern below. Landing just a few feet away from where Wendy was completely passed out, hands cuffed behind her back and body unconsciously shaking. Juvia let out a high pitched scream, tears rolling down her cheeks as she struggled against the female police officer and the burn of sensory overload spreading across her skin. It hurt, the wack to the head she was given, blood oozing steadily from her injury, the woman's handcuffs beginning to sink into place around her wrists a bit too tightly, the buckle of her knees beneath her and her arm bent in an unnatural position. On the ground floor, leaving Wendy alone in the cellar asleep. Hair in a tangled mess gripped between the other woman's hand, Juvia kicked at her feet, movement utterly desperate and eyes now fixed on the sight of Gray, in anguish. At this especially, his blood boiled like it never had before. "Stop moving!!!" He yelled, the red marks around her beginning to settle in. Bringing his arm around the neck of the police officer, he held her in a tight choke hold, resisting the earnest kicks she gave to his shins.
"You think you can run, sweetheart!!!???" Jellal threatened as he finally arrived at scene, the unreal sight forcing a chuckle out of him. Erza stood at the commotion, rushing over to give a hand to Gray or Juvia. Putting her arms to use, the officer picked her gun and faced it behind her to Jellal's face. It was a miracle he was able to dodge, but it was an even greater miracle that it only managed to graze Erza's cheek behind him before Bethel froze completely out of shock. Noticeable terror apparent on her face as she realized her bleeding cheek and the barrel of a pistol pointed at her face. Her gaze switched to Jellal, who looked as if he was more than ready to kill multiple people. How dare she? Hurting his woman? Pointing a pistol at the head of Jellal Fernandes' girlfriend? She must have been out of her mind, they all thought. The mere idea of looking at him or Erza the wrong way was scary enough but threatening and shooting at Erza with a firearm??? Scrambling away from the woman, Juvia heaved in breaths of anxiety. Gray ran past the taller male and up to Juvia as well, breaking her handcuffs and holding her close to his chest. The officer took one breath, lying against the floor before her airway was cut off once more. Jellal held her in up in mid air, eyes wide with anger and hair messy from hysteria. "What was the point!!!!???? Why did you come in here just to be killed!!!??? Why did you shoot and bloody my people for no reason!!!!???" He screamed, dropping her when the last of her struggling came to a pause. Turning to Erza behind him, he placed a hand against her cheek, wiping (or rather smearing) the blood away from her lip. He licked the rest away, placing a gentle kiss against her lips and hugging her warmly. "Thank god you're safe." He whispered into her hair, relief washing over him like a tidal wave.
COUGH COUGH
Juvia hacked up a small amount of blood, the bullet lodged in her side along with the constant choking and screaming had definitely done some form of damage to her trachea and larynx. Her coughing was violent as she shook, red neck begging for hydration and helpless limbs screaming for warmth or some kind of relaxation.
"Someone get the nurse!" Gray ordered, resting her head atop his bicep and holding her closer to himself.
"Gray, my side hurts." She whispered, eyes fluttering slowly closed as the color drained from her face. "I'm scared." A drop of blood flowing from her lip landed on Gray's hand, rolling down a vein of his and soaking into the material of his cloak.
~~~
Eyes bore blankly, unbelievably into the screen of Jellal's television. "I'm sorry"? Was he trying to kid himself? What could be more obvious than the crystal clear signs shoved in front of his pathetic face? He was convinced at this point that he was in fact pathetic, dense and utterly clueless. "I love you." Was that what she said? As in caring for him more than anything? Acting as if she was perfect as she innocently took advantage of him day by day. Year by year and night by night. As if she hadn't ended the life of the person most important person to him on the surface of Earth. Upsetting herself with him over what he'd done, all the while hiding her own intentions of screwing with his head. His tv crackled and strained, the black and white grain feeling like it was blinding him— yet he couldn't look away. To anyone else, that expression he wore would have been unreadable— he found himself unreadable at this moment. The tape, one capturing the moment his girlfriend's arms shoved his only family member off the side of Phoenix's roof. Finally, he exhaled. This breath slowly beginning to shake uncontrollably, he gripped the arm of his chair tightly. Somewhere inside of himself, he knew. He knew it wasn't an accident, he knew his sister wasn't the type to end her own life over the stress, drama and utter pressure placed upon her. She was strong willed and stubborn. Someone he wasn't willing to fuck around with despite being the second strongest member of the group. But to think that the only woman he ever loved had committed this *heinous* crime? He wanted to deny it with every pore in his body but the evidence sat in front of him with perfect clarity denied him. If his own common ethics said otherwise, who was he to go against his own beliefs? Standing from his place in the security room chair, he turned to leave, carrying the tape with him.
~~~
Jellal lightly knocked against the infirmary's door, and after not receiving a response, he entered cautiously. A chair was placed beside Juvia's bed as she stirred awake— Jellal settled down into his seat and got comfy. "Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, smiling gently. Juvia shook her head slowly, weakly pushing herself to sit up.
"No, don't worry about it." She eyed him suspiciously, eyes landing upon the date written on a small white label on the tape.
"How are you feeling, how's Wendy?" He questioned, fingers twirling and playing around with the small black box in his hand.
"You shouldn't be asking me this. You know I'm fine and Wendy is just shaken up. I should be asking you if you're okay? By the date of that tape in your hand, I take it she didn't tell you before you found out?"
"Neither did you,"
"I don't care what anyone thinks, it wasn't, isn't and never will be my story to tell."
"That's reasonable."
"How did you even know I knew about it?" She asked.
"Pieced it together and by then, your actions gave it away. You two aren't the best of liars when it comes down to it."
"You know I yelled at her, right? You do know I was against this?" She continued, eyes now locked onto his.
"I know... I do."
"I just don't want you to take it out on me or anything. Why are you so calm about this? Shouldn't you be angry? Shouldn't you be yelling and screaming and crying and breaking things?"
"..." He looked down, "I thought so too. I feel that way so deeply but no matter how hard I try to push a yell, punch, tantrum or tear out of myself, nothing comes. Maybe my mind feels something I can't quite comprehend yet."
"I hope you scold her. I'm fact, I hope you do yell, scream, breaks things and cry at her. She deserves it with what she put you through. In all honesty, at first when I heard of what you did I thought you were a piece of shit. But I understood that you had to have had a reason. It just wouldn't make sense. Jealousy can never instigate such violence from you. I wasn't surprised at all when it was because of such a thing but as for Erza..." She thought for a moment, looking for reasoning behind Erza's actions. "I'm sorry but I don't think anything much can justify what she did. We kill multiple humans daily, but this one was just... I don't want to imply that any human life is worth more than another but maybe it was a bit much. I at least understand where you're coming from. I just, can't stand seeing your relationship go down the drain because of this. I already know it will but the end seems so pathetic- after so many lies, it just makes all those years for you seem worthless." She inhaled and exhaled slowly, watching as he stood in place and began on his way out. The DVD clenched between his fingers, a tear nearly escaped him. "Just... don't regret anything in the end." She spoke, biting her lip as a flood of emotions overcame her senses and mind. And he told himself he wouldn't. He wouldn't even spare a glance at his past mistakes if they came back to haunt him. He had a plan, a well put together one at that. For the outcome he desired, he was going to have to end things before they got any further. Even if it wasn't what he was feeling, he had to do this in a calm way. Doing this in person would be worth it, at least. He just... needed some time to collect himself.
~~~
"Where the hell even were you? You were a great help, thanks a lot boss, really outdid us all, didn't you?" Erza complained, rolling her eyes sarcastically and flicking her hair behind her shoulder.
"Tell me, who put you in a position that made you feel as though you could question me or speak to me in such a way, Scarlet? I'm all ears, really." She swallowed down her sudden confidence and remained silent. Fear rising in her throat, she bowed her head a bit in form of apology. "Now then. It's training time. Jellal will be leading the procedures and if I catch anyone slacking, you will be given cleaning duty and all paperwork for the rest of the year. I want you all to be able to land a punch within three feet of Jellal by the end of the month. "
"Are you kidding me!? Three feet!? That's so unrealistic give us something we can actually do, like 5 or 6!!" Wendy complained, eyebrows furrowed together in a knot.
"Lima, I hope for both your sake and mine that you shut your mouth and stop complaining." He threatened, eyes glaring into hers with no visible fear. "Erza, take it easy, under no circumstances are you to exert yourself. Juvia is also the exception, though she should be up and running soon enough." Erza raised an eyebrow, though her conscious quickly brushed this off and she turned her attention to later that night.
~~~
"Jellal! You called me?" She asked excitedly, the smile playing across her features growing wider. They met in the hall after work hours, recently having finished training for the day. "I missed you, what were you doing before that made you feel so tense?? Your shoulders are all bunched up, you should relax, baby." He scowled, hiding his face by turning to the side.
"Erza we need to talk. Meet me here tomorrow night." She smirked, licking her lips and opening her mouth to make a suggestion before he cut her off. "This isn't just another sex meet, Erza. Be late and we're done. Her smile nearly dropped, and at the paper he handed her. On it was written his address, as she never remembered it because she knew the way there, along with a time. Jellal wasn't the type to set a date in order to talk. It just wasn't like him and something in the back of her mind just screamed... "No. Don't do it." she shivered, nodding her head slowly and shaking away her shock. Before she was able to give him their typical heated goodbye kiss, he turned and walked off. It was almost as if they had nothing between them. Like he wasn't acting strange. Like they weren't hooking up and like she wasn't even there. Her heart clenched, eyes watering for some unknown reason, she watched in pain as he left her alone in the hall with nothing but her brutal thoughts. Her own words killed her, her own thoughts drowned her. Unbearable, they wouldn't go away as she dropped to the floor. Staring at her hands, the scene of pushing beautiful, kind and innocent woman off a building replayed on loop. It still hurt so much, the idea of what he'd done to Invel- what she'd done overwhelmed her so completely, she felt she was crying blood as the tears poured down her cheeks.
~~~
"Was it my fault?" Jellal asked himself in a whisper. Should he have let Erza die? Would that have solved these problems, this pain and guilt? No, it wouldn't but at least it wouldn't hurt so much. Nothing was worth more than his time with her and he wouldn't trade it for anything. And god, he wished more than anything that he wasn't so deeply, unrealistically in love— infatuated, even, with her. He lay in bed, shirtless with his hands covering his eyes as the DVD he brought crackled its end on the tv, for the past few minutes saying that the film was over. "I'm a god damn fool."