Remember the slave children? Well it is mid-day at the Notre Dame Cathedral construction site. The slavers were being generous and let the slaves rest for five minutes. And it is during this time one of the slaves began to yearn to escape. The red-haired girl with an eye patch over her right eye looks out her cell window. Ever since her friend was executed by the empress, she couldn't stop thinking if she was going to die at her hands too. She already did it to him, it could happen to her too. She fell into a deep depression and it shown. She has become less productive leading to more whippings by the overseers and punished harder by not being given any food for her to eat. Her friends gave her some of their food to at least keep her alive, but she has become weak. Her friends worry for her, for they know if she can't work... she too will join their friend in the sky.
"Erza" a tan black-haired boy said to her, "Are you okay? You have to eat otherwise the guards will punish you again for not working". Erza continues to stare out the cell in silence causing her friends to worry.
"Erza... please" the boy pleaded, Erza just sat there. But then she turns to the boy.
"Simon" Erza replied to him, "I-I can't, I c-can't g-go on, I just can't go on".
"I know its hard. We all miss him. But Jellal would have wanted us to go on. He would have wanted us to live".
"He would have wanted us to be free" she replied with discontent in those eyes, "He would have never wanted us to stay here and slave over the Romans. I know that Jellal would have wanted us to run back to our homes in Egypt and never again have to worry about torture, punishments, starvation, the cold. He would have wanted us to fight for our freedom". Her voice becomes a little more louder. Simon and the others try to quit her down as to not alert the guards of rebellion.
"But Erza" A black haired, blockheaded boy said, "We don't have anything to rebel. All we know is that the slavers have everything to keep us from trying to rise up".
"I know that Wally. Therefore, I have to do the next best thing" Erza declared, very much saddened to make this choice,
"I h-have to e-escape". Her friends fear for her life. They know if she fails in escaping, it would mean death.
"Sister!" said a blonde tan-skinned boy hugging Erza terrified, "Please don't go. I don't want you to leave us here"
"Shou's right" another girl adds, "What if you get caught? What if you get killed? Then we will never see you again Erzy". Erza knows the dangers of this escape, but she can't let Jellal's death be in vain. There is no other option now. It's either them, or their freedom. She tries to comfort both her and Shou.
"Millianna, please don't worry about me" she says comfortingly, "I'll be fine. Jellal told me of a land up north, where all peoples are free and the slavers won't be able to catch anyone escaping. If I get there, then I might get people to help us escape!"
"But Erza" Simon said, "what about the chance that you would be captured?"
"I have to try Simon, for Jellal". They can't stop her now, she has somehow snapped and is now determined to get out of here. Erza points to a whole in the wall covered by some crates and barrels. "I'll go through that hole we found last week, and I'll continue up north".
"Erza, I'm worried for you. But I can't stop you" Simon says. "Go now, while the guards are not paying attention". And that is what she does. Shou and Millianna look out the cell doors, keeping watch for incoming guards while Simon and Wally assist Erza in escaping through the hole in the wall. Footsteps are heard in the distant by the time they put the plan in motion.
"Sister! Someone's coming!" Shou shouted.
"When will we see you again Erza" Simon asked her.
"I don't know, but until then... we have to keep fighting for our freedom, even if we have to wait". Her friends hurry up and cover any tracks of her escaping through the hole as those footsteps get louder and louder. Then finally Sir Motoyasu appears in front of them with his spear all high and mighty.
"Alright you damn brats!" He shouted, "get back to work this instant!". As the children get up to go to work, Sir Motoyasu looks around and notices something... or someone missing.
"Hey! Wait a minute" Motoyasu says supiciously. "What happened to the red-haired brat? That weakling was working here a minute ago? The kids stay silent, making him more angry at them, looking straight at Simon.
"Hey brat!" Motoyasu shouts angrily, "where is your red friend of yours". Simon didn't say anything. Making Motoyasu grab him by the shirt.
"WHERE THE HELL IS THE GIRL!" shouts Motoyasu, and yet again Simon didn't say anything. Motoyasu looks around the cell and noticed the big pile of crates and barrels just suspiciously hanging around. He pushes the barrels around is shocked to find the hole in the wall. Putting two and two together and in an angry panic...
"SOUND THE ALARM" he shouts with a alarm blaring throughout the construction site, with guards running around, a couple of the guards arrive at the cell where Motoyasu was interrogating the kids.
"WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"Motoyasu shouts at the guards, "THE RED HAIRED GIRL IS TRYING TO ESCAPE! STOP HER!" The guards then disperse to try and find the girl. What they didn't know that by the time they figured out what happened she has already dug half way through the bottom of the barbed wire.
"THERE SHE IS!" One of the guards shouted, scaring Erza into digging faster as to not be caught. Luckily, she was able to dig out of the site before the guards could fill the tunnel with water to fish her out. Once the guards noticed where she is, they prepared to shoot her on the spot.
"Now men, shoot her down, but DON'T kill her. We need all of the slaves to complete this cathedral". With his orders, the guards began to shoot at Erza to get her down. But for some reason, all the bullets avoid her. The guards try to take her down with their most powerful rifles around. Unfortunately, they run out of bullets. Erza runs away unscathed.
"You bastards!" Motoyasu shouts at the guards, "you let the damn brat get away! Her graciousness will surly have our heads". The guards shudder at the thought of Empress Malty's punishments. The head supervisor of construction Tenya Illda wanders in confused with all the noise.
"What the hell is going on?" Tenya asked, "guards are running around willy nilly, the alarm is blaring, there is disorder and chaos and this can not go on if we are to-"
"One of the slaves escaped".
"So? We have plenty of slaves".
"Her Graciousness doesn't CARE that we have more slaves. If a single one is missing, we're all dead".
"Dear God! you're right!" Tenya responded in panic, "I completely forgot... Alert the various guards, we need to catch this slave girl". The rest of the guards move out to hunt down Erza and Motoyasu goes down to the construction site where he finds the Simon brat and takes him away.
"You are coming with me you insubordinate brat!" Motoyasu tells him before dragging him down to the palace, much to the distraught and dismay of his friends who are now alone. As for Erza, she escaped the hellscape they call Norte Dame. for hours she ran as fast as she could taking as few a breaks as she can to avoid the guards.
It is already the evening and she makes it to a rail yard in Florentia. Tired and hungry, she sneaks around the rail yard trying to find a train car she can sneak aboard out of the country. She finds a train that seems to be preparing for a journey up north, just where Erza needed to go. She carefully sneaks in between the train cars, which she thought were just regular livestock cars. But upon secret inspection, she realized that these cars were holding slave children being taken to slave camps up north to work on wonders for the empire. Erza was lucky to have found a hiding spot on the train car. She crouches behind the barrels and crates behind the boxcars as the guards inspect the cars. She wasn't found out, so she is able to rest for a while before getting off quickly and continue her escape. The train begins to travel north, and Erza crouches down trying to get some sleep. The train travels the countryside, resting at a junction at Parma. It is already early night, and Erza was alert to avoid being seen. And then, a blue haired girl noticed her at the back of the train car.
"Psst. Hey!" She said as soft as she can to grab her attention, and not alert the guards. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I want to know what are you doing here?"
"um, hello" Erza responds. "I'm trying to escape this country and to freedom"
"Well, if you want to escape, I'm afraid that you won't be heading to freedom for long, this train is heading to the slave camps".
"I know, but I have to get up north and run away from the country. I'll go as far this train will take me. Then I will run as far as I can".
"I see" the girl says, looking up at the stars. "You know, there is a country I have heard at home many times before. It's a country called France, and they are accepting immigrant refugees from Rome".
"You know where this place is?"
"Well, it is up north. I think this train will be stopping at Mediolanum before heading to the Austrian regions, I overheard the guards speak of this. And if you continue northwest up to Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, then you will end up near the border of France".
"You certainly know a lot about this country... uh...".
"My friends and family call me Main" the girl finally introduces herself, "I read a lot about geography from thrown out books. I also read up on Fairy astrology before it got burned by the empress". Main points at one of the many stars in the sky. "You see that group of stars up there?"
"Yeah"
"That is the Taurus Constellation. Many of the constellations are believed by followers of Fairy Tail to lead people to new worlds. That means if the Cancer Constellation represents Rome, then the Aries Constellation represents Germany, and the rest of the constellations fall into place" she continues on pointing at the Aries Constellation in the direction of the German empire.
"So if I follow the constellation, I will find the way out of here?". Main nodded. The train started moving again, on its way to Mediolanum. The two girls strted talking to each other on the way.
"What's your name?" Main asked.
"It's Erza, Erza Scarlet".
"Scarlet? Like the color of your hair?"
"A friend gave it to me. I didn't have a name before, so he gave me one. It was a way for him to never forget" she says as she touched her scarlet hair.
"What happened to him?". Erza looks down in sadness.
"H-He was killed by the e-empress" Erza said on the verge of tears.
"That makes both of us then".
"W-What did the empress d-do to you?"
"She took my parents away and took my sister and I into slavery over tax disputes". Both of the girls looked down in sadness.
"This can't go on any longer" Erza stated. "The empress must be stopped, or else we will never be free".
"But how? We are not strong. Even I am weak and sickly".
"I don't know how, but my friend said that we have to fight to be free".
"fight?".
"Yeah, it's what he wanted". The train arrives at Mediolanum and when it stopped, Erza looked around before she could jump off the train.
"Hey!" Main says before Erza leaves, "good luck Erza. I hope you get out of here safely".
"I hope you reunite with your family". Erza then runs out unnoticed by the guards, who coincidentally are trying to find her. She runs getting as far as Novaria before she stops due to fatigue and starvation. It was midnight when she found a place to sleep, on the outskirts of a forest behind some bushes. Though it wasn't long until someone did find her, but it wasn't the guards, but it was one of the city lords, an average man with short and slightly spiky chestnut-brown hair and green eyes wearing a victorian lord outfit. Erza wakes up from the noise the lord makes in searching, and upon noticing him, she flinches in fear that she is going to be taken away back to the construction site. But the lord had other plans.
"Hey" the man said quietly, to calm her down. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you young girl". Erza still is unconvinced, so the man tries to help her.
"Look, I know that it seems that you can't trust a Roman lord seeing how your people were enslaved by us, but believe me when I say I want to help you. I really do want to help you". Erza is becoming a little calm but still uncomfortable.
"How about we get to know each other. I am Kazuma Satou, Lord of the Augusta Praetoria Salassorum. How about you young one?".
"E-Erza, Sc-Scarlet".
"Erza. Let's make a deal alright? If you come with me, I'll help you escape this country. What do you say? I'll even give you some food". Lord Kazuma lends his hand out to her. It seems that Erza could trust this man more (maybe because of the prospect of food), as she reaches for Kazuma's hand. Kazuma brings her up and carries her back to his luxury vehicle, where a blue haired woman was waiting.
"Kazuma, what the hell took you so long? I just want to get back home" she said to him.
"We are going to the border Aqua, and we're going to help this girl escape". Shocked, Lady Aqua objects to this notion.
"No. No. No. No way. Not going to happen!" She shouts. "I don't want to get involved with such a crime!" Erza flinches on Kazuma's shoulder.
"Aqua!" Kazuma says quietly angry, "Quit it. You're scaring the little girl".
"Scaring the little GIRL?!" Aqua shouts, "Scaring the little girl? Kazuma, there are more important things to worry about than a little scared slave girl. What would the government think? What would her graciousness think?". As Aqua contniues to rant, another young girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair comes up to her and tapes her mouth.
"Hey! Shut your mouth before we get killed".
"Thanks Megumin. Now can you help me protect this child escape over the border, and also give her some of that bread you have been storing?"
"Of course Kazuma" Megumin says. She takes Erza into her hands and takes her into the vehicle. Megumin feeds her some bread while Kazuma drives the vehicle, with Aqua screaming for the tape to come off her mouth. an hour passes as they pass through Augusta Praetoria Salassorum making their way to the French-Roman border. Erza has been asleep for a while, but then wanted to ask Kazuma a question.
"M-Mr. Kazuma, why? Why do you want to help me? Why didn't you turn me in?"
"I'm gonna come clean here, I hate the empress" Kazuma states, "That greedy bitch has gone too far in her control. I fear revolution. And though I do this because I can't bear young kids like you to be enslaved in our country, I do fear my position of power. If I can do as much as I can to help the oppressed, then I might stay in power longer".
"I thought the Roman doctrine was that of too powerful to fail, or at least that is what I heard".
"They say that, but there are a lot of things those who live in the capitol would not know and a lord that lives near the countries borders would" Kazuma explains with a passionate fervor. "The fact of the is that we will all be dead in a war with the other powers. Our military sucks compared to the modern militaries of the other powers, our central command fights among themselves and also sucks, and our entire government sucks. Ass. Any war that Rome enters, it will surly lose. Revolution? Good-bye bitch. The empress is going to fall, and I don't want to be any part of it". They keep on going on until they reach the border which is just a tall wired fence with barbed wire. The only checkpoint there was heavily guarded and with many guards on patrol to secure the border. The vehicle turns over to a part of the fence that no guards would find it. There, a whole between the fence that has been worn down by years of being put up. Erza gets up, thanks them for helping her, and leaves through the hole in the fence.
"Hey Erza" Kazuma whispered, "remember me when Rome falls, tell the world how I helped you escaped".
"I will mister". With that, Erza finally leaves and finally escapes to freedom in France. Kazuma was about to leave when all of a sudden...
"HEY!" One of the guards shouted approaching the young lord. "Lord Kazuma!"
"That's my name. What do you want?"
"What are you doing out here my lord? It's really late at night for you to be out here".
"It is not any of your concern sirs, I was about to go off on my merry way actual-"
"Hey sir!" One of the guards shouted pointing to a silhouette of a girl running off. "Isn't that the girl wanted by Sir Motoyasu?". The guard looked over the fence and was shocked at what he saw.
"Oh my God! That is her! And damn it! She escaped!" The guard said in anger, "The empress is going to have us by the balls! Lord Kazuma, did you have anything with this!".
"What are you talking about? I am just as shocked as you are" Kazuma responded trying to act cool as not to show some suspicion. But all of that would be for nothing when Aqua, who was still in the vehicle, took off her mouth tape.
"KAZUMA LET THE LITTLE SLAVE GIRL ESCAPE!" Aqua shouted in anger, "I WARNED HIM NOT TO DO IT AND TURN IN THE BRAT, BUT THAT STUPID SHUT-IN NEET DIDN'T LISTEN!". Kazuma tries to shut her up, but it was too late.
"Lord Kazuma, you are coming with us". The guards arrest Kazuma as he is taken into a prison van where he will await punishment from the empress. Speaking of, back at the royal palace earlier in the evening, Malty was about to go to sleep after a long day of deals and fun when all of a sudden she was given the news about the slaves escape. Needless to say, she was not happy.
"ARE YOU KIDDING!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Malty shouts with anger fuming out of her ears and at both Sir Motoyasu and Tenya Illda."YOU ALL HAD ONE JOB! ONE. JOB! YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO KEEP THE SLAVES FROM ESCAPING! AND NOW ONE OF THEM IS ROAMING THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE! HELL, THE BRAT MIGHT ALREADY BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"
"Y-Y-Your G-Graciousness" Motoyasu says meekly. "I-In all honesty, she d-did get help b-behind m-my b-b-back. A-And you'll be happy to know t-that the brat is being taken care of".
"Yes your Graciousness" Tenya adds. "It appeared that a little boy help him escape, and we have him awaiting punishment in the palace dungeon".
"I DON"T CARE! FIND THE GIRL AND BRING HER BACK THIS INSTANT!". The two men leave her palace, but not before Malty could ask them something before they leave.
"Wait Sir Motoyasu"
"Y-Yes your Graciousness?".
"Keep the boy in the dungeon. I want to have some fun with him later".
-End of Chapter Twelve-