Incarcerated Innocence, a Fairy Tail fanfic by Tsunami Storm

Chapter 1: Incarceration Interrupted

-Era, year X785-

It happened after about a year.

One whole year after the bulk of the Fairy Tail Guild had tragically disappeared without a trace.

Most simply assumed them dead, except for a few friends who staunchly kept the faith. Namely some wizards of the Blue Pegasus Guild, as well as the coalition from Lamia Scale that had assisted in the Nirvana incident.

And there was one more. One more wizard that refused to believe that the Guild's most powerful wizards had perished from the face of Earthland. He refused to believe that his red-haired angel had left this world for good, never to return.

Not that he would ever admit his feelings aloud.

Era never did figure out how he'd managed to pull it off. They knew that their amphibious subordinates deliberately neglected to feed the prisoners on a regular basis- at least until the last possible moment- and even then as little as possible. A normal man or woman without magic would have succumbed long ago, but apparently mages were built of stronger stuff than regular folk.

Jellal was an even more unique case. For more than half his life, he'd been enslaved in one of the worst possible ways in that magical monstrosity, the Tower of Heaven- first as an innocent child- then possessed by the darkest spirit in the history of Fiore, the black wizard Zeref. They knew all about Fairy Tail's testimony of what had truly happened when the Council had been tricked into the unthinkable: Firing the most powerful Destruction Magic ever devised, the Etherion Cannon, and the destruction of the Magic Council building. But they were too stubborn to admit their mistaken judgment.

So it was that Jellal Fernandes- brilliant wizard and close childhood friend of one of the most powerful wizards in Fairy Tail- was unjustly imprisoned for all eternity, or at least until his heart stopped beating.

At least- that was the plan.

Barely contained cries of agony echoed through the cell block in the depths of the Magic Council building as some of the more sadistic Council lackeys entertained themselves by torturing their favorite prisoner, the aforementioned Jellal Fernandes. He tried his best to ignore the pain, not wanting to give those toads the satisfaction of seeing how much it hurt.

Another prisoner- whose cell floated slightly higher than his- cried out at the unjust punishment. "Stop it! What is wrong with you? Have you no empathy?" She cried, a half-eaten stick of her invented snack clenched in her hand.

"Stuff it, dragon-freak!" A frog-lizard thing* snarled. "Or you're next!" He sneered, but removed his magic staff all the same. "I was done with him anyway. It's no fun if I can't get more than a few screams out of him. Let's go." He gestured impatiently to his companion, who nodded meekly, tarrying a bit to glance sympathetically at the blue-haired young man curled up in a fetal ball on the floor of his prism cell.

[I can never remember this scumbag's name, so I just call him a thing more than a few times.]

Daphne screwed up her courage and grabbed one of her snacks, pushing her arm through the lacrima barrier and holding the skewer out to the attendant- ignoring the searing pain that this simple action caused. "Give this ta him. Please. Even you must know that he doesn't deserve ta die like this. No one does." She pleaded, wincing and grimacing as the barrier sent waves of pain coursing through her body from her elbow up.

The amphibious humanoid looked worried for a moment- glancing between the two prisoners in indecision- but then shakily took the skewer from Daphne's hand and dropped it through a vent-like hole near the top of Jellal's prism. The skewer bounced once on its end, then fell onto its side right next to the young man's face- though he didn't see it because his eyes were closed.

"Thank you." The female mage whispered, and the attendant nodded, somehow conveying to her that this would be the last time he would do something like this. He didn't want to get in trouble.

When the prison was empty of attendants, Daphne looked below her to Jellal's cell and was surprised to find that he had sat up and returned to leaning against his cell wall. In his left hand he held the skewer that she'd given him, and was just staring at it with a blank expression and twisting it slowly in his hand.

"It's food. Ya eat it." She supplied helpfully with just a hint of harmless teasing in her voice. "I made 'em myself. I'm pretty sure that one's strawberry."

"Why?" His voice was barely audible, and Daphne could tell that even just that one small word was a strain.

"Well, ya probably overheard what I said ta that attendant. No one deserves ta die from hunger. It's one a' the worst possible ways ta go."

"I'm- scheduled for execution anyway. They probably- don't care- if I die earlier- than expected." He breathed dejectedly, continuing to twist the skewer in his hand. "But thank you. Your generosity- is appreciated." He barely managed a weak smile, which- to her eyes- looked more like a grimace of pain.

"Well, I don't care what they think. I heard 'bout you, 'bout everythin' that happened, an' I think yer innocent. So there." She huffed stubbornly, crossing her arms and slouching against the wall. Her defiance earned her a weak chuckle, followed by a round of extremely harsh coughing.

"You sound awful." She observed, feeling pity for the tortured young man as she continued to watch him surreptitiously from the transparent floor of her prism cell.

"It's no more than I deserve." Jellal sighed weakly. "I don't deserve to live. Imprisonment and illness are far too merciful punishments for what I've done."

"So, on top a' daily torture, yer sick too?" Daphne breathed, her heart nearly breaking for this tormented young man. What had happened to him?

"You needn't be concerned for my sake, Miss- Daphne, was it? I just hope I don't get you sick." He mumbled, glaring at his feet as if trying to burn them off with just his gaze.

"Aw, ya don' have ta worry one li'l bit about me." Daphne grinned, purposely acting overly perky in an effort to cheer him up. "With 'Metamo-chan', I don' need ta worry 'bout any silly li'l cold. These li'l babies 're chock-full a' all kinds a' special ingredients an' vitamins that'll knock out any illness in a matter a' days! An' that ain't just my sales pitch, Darlin'. It's the honest ta goodness truth. Cross my heart, folks!"

Her theatrics succeeded in bringing a small smile to her fellow prisoner's face, and he chuckled weakly again.

"How'd you- know- strawberry- was my favorite?" He asked after a minute, the barest hint of a mischievous gleam in his hazel eyes.

"Oh! Just a lucky guess." Daphne giggled. "I don' know ya from Adam, after all. How could I possibly have known what yer favorite flavor was?" She teased lightly, earning yet another smile from the young man. He raised his left hand closer to his face, studying the skewer in interest before taking the smallest of nibbles from the top. After a moment, his eyes opened slightly wider and he looked up at his companion for the first time, meeting her gaze with a warm smile. "It's good. Thank you."

"Glad ya like it." Daphne smiled. "Now if I could just convince those toads in here that I'm servin' the community by makin' more a' these 'Metamo-chan', I could serve my sentence an' be outta this hole." She made a face. "Course, I know I deserve this fer everythin' I did, but still. 'Metamo-chan' is my penance."

"Why are you in here, anyway?" Jellal asked quietly after he'd swallowed another small bite. It was good, he couldn't deny that.

"Oh, when I was a li'l girl, I saw the most majestic thing anyone ever did see. A dragon, an' a giant one at that. I tried tellin' people in my village about it, but they just thought I was cuckoo. So I decided ta make my own dragon. Then everybody would be able ta see that I wasn' a liar or crazy."

"Ah, I heard about that. You made a gigantic dragonoid with a Dragonslayer heart and nearly destroyed Magnolia. But Natsu was too strong for you." Jellal nodded in understanding.

"Yes, yes. We're all familiar with my past- boo-boos." Daphne waved him off, embarrassed by how she'd acted. "But I'm more interested in you, Darlin'. If they know yer innocent, shouldn't y'all be pardoned then, not executed?"

Jellal laughed darkly, shaking his head in defeat. "They're too proud to ever admit they're wrong. Even if I'm justified in blaming every one of my actions on the spirit of Zeref that possessed me as a kid, I'll still never forgive myself for my worst crimes of all:" He sighed, looking down at his feet with burning eyes again. "I broke her heart. I made her cry. I killed her best friend, and nearly her too! No amount of penance could ever absolve me of those sins. I'll bear them for the rest of my worthless life."

Daphne's amethyst eyes widened. Now that was some juicy gossip she'd just heard! "Ooh, who is 'her'? A lovely lady in yer life?"

Jellal chuckled again, but there wasn't any humor in it. "Well, I won't deny that she's lovely, and a lady, but I've no right to call her mine. I lost that right years ago when I betrayed her. She was a beautiful scarlet-haired angel, and I just- threw her away like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum." He ruthlessly berated himself, even though he knew his actions were not his own at the time.

Jellal's words sparked a memory within Daphne's subconscious. One word in particular. "Scarlet? Wait a second. Ya don' mean- Titania?! She's yer angel?" The female mage laughed out loud. "Well, it certainly fits. 'Specially with that one armor set." She giggled, the mental image of the Queen of the Fairies arrayed in her 'Heaven's Wheel' armor appearing in both of the prisoners' minds.

"She's the one who saved me during the Nirvana incident. Just the mere memory of her name gave me the strength to keep going." The Heavenly Body mage smiled fondly. "The Sky Maiden did save my life, but if it hadn't been for Erza, I would've just been another of Brain's puppets."

"Another puppet master manipulatin' ya." Daphne sighed, her pity for this poor, tortured soul growing stronger by the minute.

"Story of- my- life." Jellal breathed, suddenly incredibly weary. "I- hate to be rude, but- I'm really- tired- all of a- sud-" He never even finished his sentence before his head dropped to his bare chest and was rendered profoundly unconscious.

"Well, that takes care a' that conversation." Daphne sighed, rather put-out that she'd lost her conversation partner. He was really interesting to talk to. All that painful history that she could sense boiling inside him, not to mention the immense amount of love that became apparent when he spoke of his flame-haired Fairy Queen. It was clear that he loved her with all his heart, but he wouldn't let himself fall in love because of his dark past.

Daphne sighed again. If only those pig-heads on the Magic Council would realize that they royally screwed up and just pardon him already. He was innocent! He couldn't help his actions when he was possessed!

-That night-

"Hey! Wake up, you scum! It's time!" That sadistic, lizard-like Council attendant sneered, putting his staff through the prism wall and poking the unmoving prisoner none too gently. Jellal didn't move so much as a muscle.

"Didn't you hear me? Wake up! You'll have plenty of time to sleep later. After it's over, you'll sleep forever! Doesn't that sound nice?" He sneered nastily, activating the top of his staff and willing the purple lightning spell to torment his favorite prisoner once again. Though this time Jellal didn't make so much as a sound, much less move.

"Huh?" The attendant huffed. "That usually works." He tried the same spell again, but got the same result as last time. Frowning, he deactivated one of the walls of the prism cell and touched two slimy fingers to the tortured young man's neck to check for a pulse. Finally he straightened up and snarled nastily, "You got off lucky, you miserable wretch. Sir Lahar* shall be disappointed that the execution is canceled, but there's not much we can do if the accused is already dead."

[Just for the record, I don't like Lahar either. Jerk.]

A horrified gasp followed his words, and Nadal turned to look at another of the prisoners with that smug sneer still on his face. "Yes, you felt pity for this wretch, didn't you? I know what you did after we'd left. At least his last meal was something of which he got to enjoy the taste one last time." He laughed cruelly, casting a Levitation spell on Jellal's body and lifting him out of the cell, dropping him unceremoniously on the back of his specialized hover platform. "I detest cleanup, but it's best to get it over with right away, before they start to smell." He wrinkled his face in disgust as he flew off, leaving Daphne to lean back against her cell wall in shock and horror, almost positive that she had somehow killed her new friend with her act of kindness. "What've I done?" She whispered to herself. "What have I done?"

Jellal was buried just outside the new Magic Council building where all of the other executed criminals had been interred. In accordance with Era's customs, they placed a simple marker made of a lacrima crystal near the head of the grave, then sealed the hole with dirt and clay- not even bothering with a casket. There was no one who would mourn this criminal, just like all the others who slept here. Then the attendants in charge of the cemetery returned to their other duties.

When the clock in the nearby town struck midnight, a pair of silent, cloaked figures stole into the burial grounds and quickly searched the area. The younger of the two spotted the grave first, and signaled to her companion to come over. The elder of the two wizards freed one of her hands from her heavy cloak, then invoked her Arc of Time magic to bring that one special ingredient in the Metamo-chan into its past so that her one-time puppet would wake up. She had aged that spice so that it would put the one who'd eaten it into a sleep so deep that it resembled death.

After she had finished casting her spell, she sighed heavily and waited patiently at the foot of the young man's grave, waiting for something to happen. She had to fight back a small snicker when her companion jumped at least a foot in the air and squeaked in surprise as a hand punched its way out of the ground two feet in front of her. The hand was quickly followed by a mop of cerulean-blue hair and a look of speechless shock on the young, handsome face.

"Welcome back, Jellal." Meredy beamed, recovering from her earlier shock with surprising grace.

Jellal looked at the rose-haired girl in tired confusion, but didn't get the chance to question her statement further as Ultear rather unceremoniously grabbed his hand and yanked him completely out of his would-be grave with surprising strength. She gave him a strained, sad smile as she put a slender finger to her lips and motioned for him to follow them out of the boneyard and into the small forest nearby.

When they had successfully escaped the charnel house at Era's base, Ultear finally released the breath she'd unconsciously been holding in a huff of relief. The man she rescued merely stayed silent and quietly observed her and Meredy as the younger dug through her pack that she'd brought, the young man starting in surprise when she produced a purple sleeveless turtleneck, dark blue pants and a blue cloak with white trim that was suitable for a young man of about his size to wear. She reached in again after handing the articles of clothing to their new owner and produced a pair of men's boots and a pair of socks to wear underneath them. When she'd handed these new items to the young man as well, both she and Ultear turned their backs to him to give him at least a little privacy so he could change out of the ragged prison pants he'd been wearing.

"T-thank you." Jellal muttered quickly when he finally realized what was happening, a little bit of a blush dusting his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He changed in what seemed like record time, as there was a bit of a chill in the air- despite it being the beginning of autumn. Fastening his cloak gratefully around his bare shoulders, he pulled the hood over his head to hide his conspicuous cerulean hair- and only after he'd done that did his saviors turn to face him again.

"Much better." Meredy surmised, smiling in a friendly way at the young man, and- beside her- Ultear nodded her agreement.

"You're free to do whatever you want now. Just as long as you lie low for a while. We gotta let this 'death' thing blow over before you start showing yourself in public again." The Time mage commented dryly, and Jellal nodded wordlessly. "We're thinking about starting up an Independent Guild. You're welcome to join us if you want." She continued matter-of-factly, not letting any emotion slip into her voice.

"Ultear was thinking about calling it 'Crime Sorciére' or something like that. 'Witch's Crime'." Meredy smiled sadly, looking at her mother figure for confirmation. The older mage nodded shortly, subtly hinting that she didn't want to say any more on the subject.

"If you think I could be of any use." Jellal humbly accepted. "I would be happy to help you, in any way I can."

"Any use? What kind of self-esteem is that?" Meredy teased gently, barely touching his shoulder in a playful tap. She knew that he'd had to endure almost daily torture at the hands of those sadistic amphibious attendants under the Magic Council. "Weren't you ranked number six among the Ten Wizard Saints a few years back? You're kind of a powerhouse!" She giggled goodnaturedly when the young man blushed again at the praise.

"Now, now, Meredy. Don't tease him too much. We don't want him to break a blood vessel with all that embarrassment." Ultear chimed in, completely at odds with what she had just chided her 'daughter' for doing. At the Time mage's assessment, Jellal's face turned even redder, causing both girls to laugh out loud.

"Gotta make sure not to take yourself too seriously in this Guild." Ultear smiled when her giggles finally died down. "The last thing mages like us need is to get a swollen head."

"Like I did at the Tower of Heaven." Jellal joked finally, grinning abashedly at Ultear, and now it was her turn to change color. "I thought I was a god, but in reality I was just acting like a spoiled brat." He laughed in self-deprecating humor. "Until Natsu knocked some sense into me. Literally."

This statement made the ragtag group of disgraced mages laugh for quite a good while. It felt great to laugh like that once more, and that was something the Heavenly Body mage thought he'd never get to do again.

End of Chapter 1

God Bless!

Tsunami Storm