Chapter Fifteen : Potential
Erza's P.O.V. -
Jellal stood before me. I couldn't believe it.
"Erza?" he slowly began to walk towards me.
I smiled, "What are you doing here?"
"I…" he glanced over at Mira, who waved. "I came here to see you."
"How'd you find us?" I laughed.
Jellal was only a foot away from me now, "Melody."
Suddenly, Jellal grabbed me and pulled me into an embrace. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Mira chuckled and turned around. Before turning, she winked at me, making my face even redder.
"Umm…" I patted his back awkwardly. "H-Hi."
He put his hand on my face gently. His other arm was still around me. I held my breath in shock. Jellal began to run his fingers through my hair. Mira looked over her shoulder and jumped around, excitedly.
"Take off your armor," he whispered into my ear.
I got rid of the armor and hugged him.
"If only you weren't a monster," Jellal sighed. "Maybe I could love you."
"What?"
He moved his hand onto my neck. His hands were gentle and soft and warm. Jellal began to squeeze his hand, but I didn't stop him.
"I could feel it," Jellal whimpered. "That dark magic coming from you. That voice in your head. I remember it when I was building the tower! Trust me, this is the best for you."
Mira transformed and sent a blast toward Jellal. I twisted and covered Jellal with my body. When Mira's blast hit my bare skin, I yelped in pain. I could feel the burn melting part of my skin and burning through my shirt. With his other hand, he grabbed my open wound.
I screamed in pain, "AGHH!"
"Ah!" Mira charged at Jellal, her fist ready.
"Don't touch him!" I pushed Jellal away and took the hit. Her attack broke one of my ribs. Jellal let my neck go in order to avoid the attack.
"Erza!" Mira caught me before I hit the floor. "What are you doing?"
I like that boy.
…so do I…
Looks like you'll have to kill the girl then.
Mira won't touch him.
She'll try.
I won't let her.
So kill her.
No. I can take it.
Jellal charged at me, a knife in his hand. Mira held her hand up, ready to blast him. I pulled her arm down and threw myself at his weapon. I yanked the blade into my thigh and pushed him back away from Mira, who I stumbled into.
"He's trying to kill you!" Mira growled.
"Then let him," I gasped in pain. "I'd rather it be me than you or Jellal."
"Erza," Jellal stood up. "You should've died in that tower."
"Shut up!" Mira screamed.
"You are an unlovable monster," Jellal scoffed. "A heartless human. A motherless child who grew up socially incapable of anything other than destruction. Everyone hates you, Erza. I hate you."
Something inside me broke as me said those words. Breathing became harder. Mira tried to cover my ears and shelter me, but I could still hear him.
"I'm doing the world a favor killing you. You know Fairy Tail? Your so called 'family'? They all hate you. They never wanted you. Melody felt their emotions. Even Mira loathes you. She lies to you because she pities you!" Jellal shouted at me. "Your mother got rid of you because she knew the monster you really are!"
Everything around me became quite.
He speaks the truth.
…
This is what I've been telling you.
…
You're hated. Broken. Motherless. Friendless. Loner.
"ERZA!" Mira looked my eyes on hers. "Don't just listen to him. Listen to me."
Don't listen to her, she just pities you.
"You…you pity me," I cried. "You never liked me before you just got nice because- because you hate me."
"Erza…"
"I've always known…" tears fell from my eye slowly.
"That's right. You know you used to be the outcast in Fairy Tail. Do you know why that changed? Because they pity you. You're just a burden to them."
"Erza-san? Mira-san?" Wendy approached from the corner of a building. "J-Jellal-sama?"
Wendy rushed over to Mira, who kept her behind her. I clutched my thigh, which was bleeding. Jellal sighed and held his hand up, ready to send his magic flying at me. Wendy pushed past Mira and jumped in front of me.
"Jellal-sama! What are you doing? It's Erza-san!" Wendy shouted. "Please!"
"I know who it is, Wendy," Jellal spoke. "Now move aside. I don't want to hurt you. You don't use dark magic. You are pure."
"Dark magic? Erza-san doesn't use dark magic," Wendy turned to look at me and gasped.
"Maybe not yet, but her potential makes her deadly," Jellal accused me mercilessly.
She quickly squatted before me and began to heal my thigh. Mira also moved up, ready to defend Wendy and I at any moment.
"Erza," Jellal frowned. "Do you remember when you tried to kiss me back in the field?"
Wendy and Mira froze for a moment, only to return back to normal after a few seconds. I could tell they were pretending not to make a scene for me. Nevertheless, I could feel the shame and embarrassment of knowing that they knew of my…attempt.
"Who knew Erza Scarlet would ever try and make a move on someone," Jellal chuckled to himself. "Well...try. The moment you started to move toward me I went into this...shock. I didn't know what to do. But you closed your eyes and moved toward me slowly as if you actually thought that I would kiss you back."
I tried to stop myself from shedding more tears, but the longer he went on, the harder it got to hold them back.
"You were so desperate for some sort of love. Some sort of approval from someone. I almost kissed you back out of pity, but you're just too disgusting to kiss," Jellal spat at me. "I came up with a fake lie just to get you off of me. Thank goodness you did."
This guy really doesn't hold back, does he. I like his character. Him and I would be good friends.
This isn't Jellal.
Yes. It. Is. Stop trying to hide away from the truth just because you don't like it. Grow up.
"I know how you feel about Wendy and Mira. Wendy is like a daughter to you and Mira is like a sister to you," Jellal smiled to himself. "But you know, Wendy never wanted to help you in that fight with your mother. In fact, she just wanted you to die. Mira also never really liked you. She was just heartbroken over her little sister so she tolerated you. But after Lisanna came back, you're really nothing but a nuisance to her. You love Wendy and Mira so much, but they really don't care about you."
"That's not true!" Wendy screamed. "Erza-san means so much to me!"
"Stop lying, Wendy," Jellal sat down, as if he was resting. "You're scared of her."
"And I love Erza as if she were my sister. That never changed, even when Lisanna came," Mira put her hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off.
"Do you want me to show them how desperate and sad you looked?" Jellal teased.
Mira stood up, "E-Erza...isn't desperate. That wasn't weak or shameful of her. It was brave. She went after what her heart wanted for the first time so boldly."
I looked down sadly hearing her words. My heart was torn between believing Jellal and believing them. Something inside me...I felt as though I had known all along that I didn't belong in Fairy Tail.
"Brave?" Jellal scoffed at her. "Have you ever seen Erza cry? She's not strong or brave. Without her armour, she's just a soft child who can't handle any stress. She's just over dramatic. Trauma? Yeah right. She's just weak."
"Trauma?" Wendy looked at me, but then covered her mouth, realizing she might've said something wrong.
Jellal hissed evilly, "PTSD, depression, anxiety, nightmares, suic-"
"How do you...how do you know that?" I asked. "And not all of those are true."
"Maybe not yet, but knowing you, you're bound to face all of them," he said.
Mira looked at me worriedly, "Which of those are true?"
"Maybe some minor PTSD from the tower and being torchered, nightmares occasionally, though not strong -yet- and some suicidal thoughts," Jellal answered completely spot on. "The rest will come after today haha."
"S-Suicide?" Wendy had tears in her eyes. "Tell me he's lying."
Suddenly, Jellal stood up.
"I'm getting tired. Plus, four against one isn't fair. I'll come back to eliminate you later, Erza," Jellal jumped up. "Goodbye, for now."
He pointed behind us, showing Carla flying at full speed towards us. Jellal disappeared into the air. Wendy and Mira seemed to relax a bit.
"Erza, we need to talk abou-" Mira stopped when she looked over at me.
Mira's P.O.V. -
I looked at Erza, who's eyes were blank. Something was different about her. I couldn't believe all the things that Jellal had said about Erza. There were...so many things that I didn't know about her. I thought I had known her well…I thought we were close.
If only I knew Erza's troubles would only grow exponentially. If only I knew before… maybe I could've saved her.