-Useless text at top of the page to align the title -.-

Chapter 3

Parting Ways

"So...where does all of this leave us, in the end?" Droy asked. "Jet?" He nudged his chin toward his friend.

"Hmm, let's see" He mused. "The two of us, Lucy and Juvia are basically against the captains. Mira-chan, Levy and the new guy over there are not."

"Gildarts agrees with us too, you know." Mirajane intervened. "That makes four and four, that's a tie."

"And by the way, even though we never technically had a guild master, he always acted as such before joining the Council. When all is said and done, shouldn't that outweigh anybody else's opinion?" The machinery technician concurred.

"Not necessarily Levy-san, no" the former water-mage countered. "But is it really a tie with just the eight of us? That is, this decision involves all of Fairy Tail, after all."

"True that. At this point, I think the only way to settle this is to be taking a vote with the rest of us. Whatever the majority decides, we do. Is this fine with you?"

"It is with Juvia, Mirajane-san. Levi-san?"

"If that's the only way to put an end to this argument, fine, voting it is."

"It is one of the fundamental principles all democracies are established on, you know" the curly-haired journalist said as he approached the group. "Equity expressed through the means of a vote, that is."

"Again, just whose idea was to let you into the guild?" Jet glared at the man, before becoming himself the subject of a scowl. "Fine, fine, sorry Levy. Anyway, voting's fine with me too."

"Me too. Do we all agree then? Who's left?" The raven-haired ex-mage asked. "Hold on a second, Lucy? How come she's being so quiet all of a sudden?"

"I'm not being quiet, Droy. I'm thinking" the blonde retorted, rejoining the conversation she merely listened to for the past few minutes.

"Thinking about what? Lucy...don't tell me it's whether or not you want to vote?!" The bluette exclaimed, perplexed. After a scoff and a crossing of arms from the other side of the table, she went on. "Unbelievable, it is!"

"Well sorry for not wanting to tear what little is left of this guild apart, Levy. If you guys manage to get the upper hand on this, we can say goodbye to Fairy Tail once and for all. Is this what you guys want? Do you really care so little of this place, of what it stands for?" She spat back. For the second time that week, she sensed something wet and unwelcomed stinging the surface of her eyes, and she mentally cursed. Were her comrades really giving up on defending what they always fought for? Did the memory of their lost friends matter already so little to them? Was she the only one left to see things as they really were?

"It's the only way out of it, Lucy. Juvia knows the risks as well but please, try and be reasonable."

"Seems to me I'm the only one being that, Juvia..." She replied, lowering her eyes to the ground.

"Lucy..."

She jerked her head up, looking toward the direction the voice came from: making his way out from behind a column, a pink-haired young man slowly walked towards her.

"We weren't scared of you. And we weren't hiding!" A familiar ball of clothes falling under the name of Gray Surge spoke out loud, his voice quite higher than necessary as he emerged as well from the obvious hideout.

"Natsu..." she whispered in an unusual soft voice. He halted in front of her, resting his hands delicately over her shoulders: for some reason, she felt her still unshed tears pressing harder against her eyelids. She locked her irises with his, her eyes full of un unspoken hope: was it possible that maybe, just maybe...he was there to take her side? Could it really be...he was going to defend her? Was he going to talk some sense into the heads of those who refused to acknowledge the predicament they were inescapably falling into?
She wanted him, needed him to say anything to make things better, someway, somehow.
Unbelievable as it sounded, the tame and fearful Natsu Dragion, right there and then, stood as the only lifeline she had hold on to. He was her only ray of hope.

"I...I think everybody here wants what's best for Fairy Tail. We're family, aren't we?" He spoke with a soft, gentle tone. She felt something tightening uncomfortably in her chest. "If we don't vote, we'll keep on discussing about this forever, and we'll end up hurting each other, maybe even resenting each other...this is not us! This is not the spirit of our guild! We stand out for those we love and we take care of one another no matter what, this is what we do. This is who we are." He spoke with a rare determination she was unfamiliar with, and it struck her to see such a side of him outside a mean of transport. For a moment, his Earthland version flashed before her eyes: the similarity was unsettling. "We're nakama, and come what may, there's nothing in this world that can tear us apart if we stand together. If voting is the only way to make things right, don't you think we should give it a go?" His big, sincere eyes never left hers, leaving the question hanging up in the space between them: maybe it was because she wasn't used to look for such an extended amount of time into the depths of those coal-black eyes (he usually diverted his out of fear within seconds), maybe it was the earnestness and the softness he spoke his words with, or maybe again he awakened a part deep within her who just felt he was, indeed, right.

"I'm sure whatever we'll decide, it will be for the best. I believe in us."

Whichever the reason for, her resolution started melting and her confidence crumbling soon after.

"...okay" she conceded, absentmindedly resting a hand upon the one he still had on her shoulder. It was warm. "I want what's best for Fairy Tail, too. I believe in us, I always have. Gather the others...we're voting."


His eyes.

If Jellal had to pick which trait of his father terrorized him the most, he would've chosen his eyes without batting an eyelash.

It was not his imperative voice, which menacingly thundered across the room every time he sentenced an order to him, to the point of giving him the impression the walls themselves trembled under its ominous echo.
It wasn't his hand either, which ever so often collided brutally against his tender skin each and every time he gave a show of his
ineptitude.
It was his eyes. It was that glare of pure, devilish, maddening
fury which was able to shake him down to the deepest fibers of his bones, paralyzing him in an abyss of anguishing dread. Those eyes were the minacious presage something terrible was just about to unleash.
That day, alas, was no exception.

"JELLAL!" His voice rumbled, his teeth gritting beastly with ire. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I...I...ww...wwweee were..." he stuttered as his lower lip trembled uncontrollably, his knees soon following its lead.

"It was my fault! My fault, King Faust! I was...I was just curious to see the castle and asked Jellal to take me here! It was my idea!"

The little redhead found her way in front of him, her juvenile voice high and vibrant and oh so full of determination. Under normal circumstances, he would've found himself wondering how that girl now intrepidly defying the monarch could possibly be the same one who just mere weeks before hugged him like there was no tomorrow frightened by a measly baby snail. But those were most certainly the full-blown antithesis of what fell under the definition of normal circumstances, and all of a sudden, he found himself launched out of the black pit of his fears and back into reality. A reality where Erza and his father coexisted in the same room.

"We were just about to leave, Father. It was my idea to bring her here and I shall accept any punishment you'll be giving me." It was his turn to step ahead of her, his voice firm as ever before as he knelt down in front of his parent, bowing his head as a mark of respect.

Three. Exactly three, interminable seconds passed. Then, the hollow sound of a foot colliding hard against the side of a head sliced through the surreal atmosphere the room had been submerged into.

"That spear" he spoke, his focus full on the object now that the person blocking his view lay a few feet away, writhing on the ground. "GIVE ME THAT SPEAR!"

She screamed, once and high-pitchedly, letting go of the weapon immediately.

He held the side of his head tightly, small fingers sinking into an ocean of blue locks as his skull throbbed uncontrollably, shutting out every distinguishable sound, his own thoughts included. He clenched his jaw. Tight, as he groaned from the pain, his eyes shrunk to slits and his vision blurred. Then, amongst the dull pulsing and the dotted sight and the pain, he made out a single, specific sound: a step -his step, he knew it all too well now. And it was all it took for Jellal to find the superhuman strength to rise back to his feet and sprint toward the man, his senses fully restored through the power of fear-induced adrenaline.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare touch her!" He howled threateningly as he fiercely attacked the sovereign, his arms outstretched to try and shove him away from his position. But as his run came to an halt and his open palms impacted against the thick fabric of his parent's cloak, he soon came to realize anew the imparity of physical force laying between them, for the elder did not budge a single inch: desperately, he clung then onto his leg, his fists thudding muffedly against his clothing.

He seethed ferociously, blood-injected eyes full of loathe fixing on the enervated kid. "Useless vermin!" He snarled mere instants before his fist, now, hit the other side of his face, effectively dethatching the child away from him. This time, though, his body didn't find the floor but a nearby pedestal instead: on its top, the steel, bulky bust of an armor started to dangerously teeter back and forth, back and forth, back and-

"Jellal, no!"

Desperate, Erza did the only thing she could muster to think in such a minimal amount of time: she grabbed the magical spear, only half-consciously registering in the back of her mind his position was too far away for her to get to him on time. "Please save Jellal!" She screamed before throwing the weapon toward the piece of armor with all the force she could summon. Which was not much, considered she was just a seven-year-old however stronger than average. Most importantly, all her efforts became further hindered by the weapon itself: split-seconds before leaving her hands, its form morphed into a much heavier, obsidian-black and silvery spear with four sharp blades on its top, which thudded against the carpeted floor almost instantly.

Witnessing her failure with an exacerbating anguish, her gaze drifted its way to the path the spear was supposed to trail, ultimately landing over her friend's form just an instant before the bust fell entirely over it.
For a few, excruciating moments, she forgot how to breath.


She sat there, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

"So, with 13 votes against 8, Fairy Tail officially accepts the captains to hold their assigned roles and will be cooperative with them on the reconstruction site or wherever required to." Mirajane declared.

He had deceived her.

"This is just ridiculous..." Droy grumbled, crossing his arms vexed. "But even though I will keep my guard high...if that's what you people want, I guess it's...fine."

"Not much of a choice there, this is what we decided after all" Jet took a sip of his liquor, equally resigned. "I don't really know how this will work out, but one thing's for sure, we'll keep on protecting the guild, regardless."

It was his fault.

"If this is what Fairy Tail wants, then so be it. We said we'd agree to whatever the majority decided, so Juvia will try and collaborate, even if she still doesn't trust them" she closed her eyes and nodded to herself.

It was all. His damn. FAULT!

"You..." she growled low-pitchedly, her voice guttural and her fringe casting a shadow over her eyes. She sprang on her feet at once, standing in front of the pink-haired young man within seconds.

"You bastard!" Skin against skin, her open hand against his cheek hurt. Strangely enough though, he felt none the physical kind of pain.

"How could you?! You tricked me! You made me believe things were going to be fine and now everything's lost! You even had the gut to vote for them, Natsu! You and your friend over there!" She pointed an accusing finger toward a despondent Gray, her betrayed stare still locked on his. "So was this your plan from the beginning, huh? To fool me with sugarcoated words then stab me in the back? How smart of you, really." She took a step back, snorting sarcastically as she clapped her hands at him.

"You know that's not it, Lucy! That's not it at all!" He had never seen that upset before, and he absolutely hated being the cause of it. It was never his intention to deceit her, and in all earnest, he never actually did. She was just misunderstanding, exponentially so. "Please let me explain this, I just-"

"Bullshit!" She screamed, shutting her eyes. "Everything you say, Natsu...it's just a load of fucking lies!" She sniffed, parting her eyelids just in time to see a hand tentatively reaching for her face. She smacked it away crossly.

"How...could...you?" She sobbed. At that point, she was far from minding anymore: she was crying in front of the whole guild, in front of him, and fuck it, she really couldn't have cared less. Everything was doomed and it was all because she'd been enough of an idiot to listen to Natsu, of all people. What was she thinking?!

She slammed the doors of the guild open, passing through her guildmates as she run away: away from those she believed in the most, away from those who hurt her the most. She didn't care. She just didn't.
And damn it, if it didn't hurt.


"Jellal!" She shrieked in horror as rivulets of crimson blood seeped through the boy's cerulean locks. Thick tears trickled copiously down her cheeks and impeded her vision as she dashed promptly to his direction, when suddenly she felt something catching in the back of her dress' collar and hoisting her up.

"Such an outstanding use of magic..." The King breathed out, his eyes widening with marvel as he brought the kid to his eye level. "I've never seen anything like this before. Tell me...how? How did you do it?"

"Let me go!" She yelped frantically, her legs kicking empty air as her hands tried fruitlessly to pry herself free from his hold. "Jellal! Jellal! He's hurt! We need to go help him!"

"TELL ME!" He commanded.

"I don't know!" She answered hastily, her eyes glued to Jellal's form, perfectly still on the floor as he had yet to flinch a single millimeter from where he was laying. She began to panic. "I've never even used magic before, now let go! He's hurt! He's bleeding! Please save him!" She sniffed repeatedly as her erratic sobs garbled her words.

"Really..." he trailed off, pensive. He straightened his stance at once, a newly-found resolution glimmering wickedly through his abyss-black pupils. "That's how it is, then. Guards!" He summoned his subordinates in a terse command as he approached his son, carelessly dropping Erza's body on the floor as if she were deadweight in his wake.

The young prince laid still, unmoving. "You..." He seethed, acrimony and disgust gurgling in his voice. "You abominable piece of scum! I've wasted years of my life with your pathetic excuse of an existence, and never once you gratified me! You're indecorous to hold the role of Prince of Edolas, you're unworthy of being my lineage!" He yelled, the tip of his booth colliding harshly against the poor boy's abdomen as he struck a kick to his already martyrized body. "Jellal! Mark my words and mark them well! You're expelled from this castle for the rest of your pathetic life, you're deprived permanently of your unmerited title of Prince of Edolas! From now on...you're not my son anymore." He uttered his last sentence in an even voice.

He spun on his heels, dramatically lifting then releasing the rim of his cape as he did so: two guards appeared promptly at the sides the prince.

"Patch him up and get this garbage away from my sight, he's not allowed into the castle nor the Royal City anymore. Now, as for you, little one..." He crouched on the ground, grabbing a fistful of the redhead's hair and prying her gaze away from the boy. "Rejoyce! You are now a recruit of the Royal Army."

"No! NOOOOOOO! Let me go! Jellal! Please King Faust! I'm begging you! Jellal! JELLAL!" She rebelled vehemently, angrily, obstinately. Futilely. She fought the harder the realization became more real.
That day, they both knew, their respective destinies were unavoidably sealed: one which would've led the young crown prince to the path of becoming an S-Class mage of the Earthland guild Fairy Tail, and the other which cemented the creation of the infamous Fairy Hunter.

"Er...za" he rasped feebly, his vision blurring before he passed out. The next thing he knew, he woke up in the middle of a desert, when a panther-like figure approached him.


A/N: I hope EdoNalu shippers liked this chapter! :D Yes, there's most definitely gonna be more of them.

Thank you fellow readers, and especially thank you reviewers: it's your support that keeps me going! Also, reviews incentivize faster updates =]

To make things a bit clearer, I added a timeline at the end of Ch1. I also gave it a (much needed) title!
Most importanly: (Edo)Lucy states in chapter 2 that Gildarts is the "Chief Minister": I corrected the error for he's actually the Chief of Staff.

The 10 Commandments Spear's forms used 'till now in this story are two: Mel Force (chapter 2) and the "Cannon Spear" (the one which Knightwalker uses most) in this chapter. The reason? Well, I just thought the first fitted Jellal/Mystogan with its colours, and well, the latter is Erza's canon spear.
There are a few manga references in chapter 2...did you notice them? =3

NEXT UPDATE might be at the end of December/beginning of January. However, it's not gonna come later than February.

Twitter at MerakiWrisp for updates (I can't be the only person tweeting about Mystwalker, fellas! XD)

What did you think of this chapter?

See y'all!~