Erza followed the heavenly mage onto the train, but before she could commit to any of that, she found herself harshly pulled back into a busy crowd. The figure was hooded, and a feminine face began speaking to her loud enough so that Jellal couldn't hear anything from inside the transport. The familiarly disguised figure turned away but was back to back with Erza and its head tilted downwards in discretion.

"Erza."

"What in the hell—" Muttered the scarlet beauty, as she came face to face with Ultear, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be helping my guild out?"

"Meldy's holding down the fort at the moment. Just listen to me," Ultear's whispered grazed through her ear, "Something's off about Jellal. He's been acting different ever since he found out you returned from the island. He's always been weird, but… you know. It's worse now."

"What do you mean?"

Why was she even here in the first place? What's going on?

"Erza?" A familiar and disembodied voice sounded through a crowd of voices on the open door of the train. His familiar blue wisps were slowly appearing in sight from the entrance frame and causing the woman to harshly turn away to avoid suspicion. Before Erza could reply, she was interrupted by Ultear's forewarning whispers, her body moving away but continuing to notion in her direction.

"I want you to carefully watch Jellal, and if you notice anything unusual about him, I want you to immediately bring him back to me. Do you understand?"

What the hell?

"Erza?" A firm hand grasped her shoulder, quickly claiming her attention from the mirage of navy cloth. She quickly came face to face with him, bewildered yet attempted to mask her thoughts. His piercing green eyes were observant, calculating, wondering what took her so long to board the tracks. "What's wrong?"

She faced back to the crowd of people swarming the train station, the cloaked female was nowhere in sight. "It—it's nothing. I thought I'd forgotten something important." Nervously smiled Erza the most sheepish of smiles, and she took hold of his outstretched hand onto the train.

…

A few hours later

The two travelling companions were seated opposite of each other, both watching the windows with an absent gaze at the scenery whooshing past them. Jellal snatched up a couple books to pass the time, to which Erza refused his offer to share, and thoughtfully continued to himself. It was that boring kind of genre—science fiction, outer space, and all that gibberish nonsense. She was more into the romantic novels, the more, needless to say, erotic kinds. All of which never ceased to stimulate her very core. She'll just have to do with her own imagination.

Erza found her eyelids weighing heavier by the second, her head slowly sinking onto the cushioned windowsill.

…

Her sigh was weak and brittle. It was another day here. Another sorrowful day.

Her muscles were too compact, much like lead pressing against her bones, there were tiny pins in her joints every time she moved. Her neck, slender and thoroughly marked, was stiff and sensitive. The soreness branched out to her shoulders and creeped down her backside every time she moved her body. Faintly she could see where he'd bitten her from above. Hickey marks were plentiful on her breasts and they swarmed around the woman's neck in dangerous clumps, also noticing faint violet lash marks around her wrists and her ankles from the chains.

There were sounds of chatter in the back of her head. The closer the voices were, the more she could make out one being Jellal's, and the other two people he would be familiar with.

"Remain watchful of the coast. Complete isolation of this island is all that I ask for. Understood?"

She could make out any of the words following that, but she didn't need vision to know the two guards listening to him were loyal to his very order and nodded like the dogs they were. Erza's eyes staunchly followed the glow of the backlight, the familiarity of the orange flame from a candle light nearing her cell, and her disgust inducing captor who came with it. The woman sighed heavily knowing who and what was to come (certainly making her cringe on the inside.) He was back to harass her again, and those thoughts caused the woman to consistently grind her teeth.

Immediately she shut her eyes. She didn't want to look at that blue hair of his, his tattoo, or be forced to look into his demanding eyes.

…

The train's voyage passed by like a blur, and before they even knew it they arrived at the destination. The duo finally caught sight of the vastly city and the height of their position spanned a whole ocean of view over the panorama. Akane, a resort spot near the ocean, had been an amazing remedy to stress and exhaustion.

Maybe this was just what she needed?

The sun was beginning to set; the air was dry and sucked every ounce of moisture it could from the designated area. A dance of lights spread along the rims of buildings, bright neon advertising signs were hoisted up and pointed to greedy restaurants and vendors. Many ongoers had dressed in distinct fancy clothing, and nonchalantly passed from one division of entertainment to another. There was a busy network of workers, running along from place to place, finishing whatever personal business they had left. Merchant carts were lined along the streets, offering 'valuable' items to sell to believing customers. Jewelry, coats, armors, swords, shields, trinkets of the entire sort; they were traded from person to person whether they had money or something else to exchange. They ventured deeper into the maze of buildings, she saw a sweet tooth exhibit—particularly cakes—and that magnificently decorated strawberry cake poster he noticed caught her eye. Jellal's lips turned up at the corners. He was hoping she'd notice.

The metal bars shut gently and in came a gust of fresh air, a new yet old smell she never had really accustomed to. His voice was dark and conceited, and overwhelmingly cruel in her ears. "It appears I have a sleeping beauty within my midst. However shall I wake her up?"

"Just kill me and be done with it." Erza bluntly muttered.

She earned a soft chuckle from him and an unwanted touch from his firm fingers. They combed through her messy scarlet hair and brushed it back so that he could observe her face clearly. "Oh, you shouldn't be so cynical. Where's the fun in that? What would be the point in killing you after all that I've done?"

His passionate words were trickery with that unperceivable face of his, and she clearly saw the lies brewing under his sharp tongue.

Erza snorted in disgust and forcefully turned her head to the side.

He knew exactly what torture she had been enduring, but only thought to mock her in his playfully dark voice.

"How do you feel? The chains a little tight?"

He knew she was in pain, he knew it very well, and that mocking voice of his was enough to drive anyone mad. The metal was about to rupture the skin on her wrists, and if she moved anymore she'd bleed.

'Of course they're fucking tight.' She wanted to tell him.

But there was no use in opening up another weakness for this horrible man to exploit. He wanted to see how long she could keep the game of faces going until she broke, and she wasn't going to lose. Not to him. Not ever.

"Nothing I can't handle."

"Oh… right, right. How could I forget I was dealing with the mighty Titania?" A devious looking smirk fell off his lips, as if he was willing to stab at her elevated ego. Not like he didn't have his own to match with hers, however.

Her chocolate eyes opened and turned her head back to her captor. They both held very observant gazes of one another. An angelic yet mature and masculine face greeting her way with that smug look every time she dared a peek to display her agitation, which defined his character so well. His beautiful and terrifying face was looming close to hers, as if he were about to close in for a kiss but never did so. His tattoo glowed ominously, and taunted the woman throughout her many dreams of the past, and strangely, she wanted to touch it but dismissed the feeling immediately. The woman had no choice to be drawn towards him, finding endless fascination with his mysterious and deceptive semblance. Erza always felt there was something enigmatic about him, dark and elegant, not even a childhood friend like her would know. She couldn't deny what she felt—and it was her longstanding attraction to him.

The tragic heroine loved him… she loved him so much. Then looked away in disgust. That was the past.

"What's wrong? Can't even look at me anymore?"

She spat back at him in retaliation. "Your face bothers me. I'd rather look at a dreary wall than you."

"I'd be kinder to the person who will be feeding you from now on."

She hadn't eaten anything for a few days and boy did it start to have a biting effect on her insides. And unfortunately, without the proper nutrition, a human body would not be able to utilize an adequate amount of energy required for daily activities—as it had been the simplest of human natures. Jellal continued, goading her in with the sweet smell of the concealed food on the cart. "The bile had to have left an unpleasant taste in your mouth, why not eat something?"

Ah, another play on words with him. This is how it always was with him, and it was starting to get annoying. Very annoying.

"The last time I had eaten something you had given to me is what caused me to be in such a dire position as I am right now. I'd rather not—my dear Jellal." Conceited as her words sounded, she raised her head, eyebrows, and batted her eyelashes gallantly despite being degradingly chained to a cell wall. She had a feeling there might be a catch to something given to her—by Jellal.

This earned her another amused laugh from her captor. What she tried to convey to him and how she really felt were total opposites—and he knew it very well. The navy blue locks of his swayed in the bare brush of air, as he turned his head to the attention of a cart with simple delights stacked neatly above it.

"I told you I'm not going to eat." The woman reiterated once more.

His green and catlike eyes were shrewd, constantly observing every detail about her, the way her chest heaved up and down as she took a breath one after another, her eyelashes as they kissed her cheeks, the way her lovely lips pressed against each other as she graced him with her many spiteful, yet lovely words.

"You're going to eat. This is not a request, this is an order."

…

"Well… here we are." A tired sigh followed suit of his lips, as the two sat down at a bench just outside the bakery.

She twisted a strand of hair on her finger, nervously curling it around to hold her attention. For a moment, Jellal was watching her do this little quirk, his piercing forest eyes staring at the lovely hair being played around with. He caught himself staring at this woman for far too long, and waited for the woman to compose herself.

"You've waited all day for this. I can tell." A mischievous smirk played on his lips as he repositioned his sights to at the glass case of magnificent desserts through the bakery's windows.

"You kidding me? That strawberry cake is calling my name! If sweets weren't a necessity for living, then I don't know what they are."

"Well, it is a shame they're all sold out." He bluntly announced.

"Wha—what!?" Her mouth hung open, she propped her body up, slammed her palms, and used her arms as pedestals against the table top.

"No need to worry, I managed to snag the last slice for you." His green iris met with the side of his lower eyelid, his head maintained a position sideways from his view of Erza and propped up with the palm of his hand. His elbow endured most of his upper body weight as he leaned towards the woman.

Slowly she slumped back onto her seat, excited and relieved all at once. "How did you manage that?"

"I have my ways." He hinted, amused with Erza's pin wheel of emotions.

"Are you going to share with me then? Or did you buy something for yourself?"

"The food I ate before we boarded the train isn't really setting right in my stomach. I don't think I can eat right now." He casually sighed, and cored his attention to the waiter and the last surviving plate of sweetness for his beloved. He then glanced at the scarlet beauty, her delicate chocolate eyes following the strawberry delicacy settle right between her hands.

"Here you are, ma'am." The worker maintained a nervous and polite bow and walked back into the kitchen.

Her grin widened the more she laid her eyes upon the enticing pastry and propped a fork between her fingers. "You sure you don't want any?"

Jellal addressed his reassuring smile, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Suit yourself."

And with that, the lovely lady dipped into her treat with finesse and lust, giving much of her attention to the crafted deliciousness. Jellal tried not to watch her, but the way her mouth moved—elegantly chewing, closing and opening and her lips that often covered themselves in a soft layer of cream—it looked delicious to him even.

He wanted to kiss her again.

But he knew this generous act would bring him closer to an even greater agenda.

His green, intellectual eyes followed down the sides of her face to an even more bright and exotic color to grace his sights. Her long scarlet tresses flowed down her arms and her back, and outlined the rims of her armor. Her dark cherry hair curled around her firm, fitting polished armor, and several strands tucked elegantly behind her ear. It was the most prominent thing about that woman. That intensely red and bloody color never failed to grab his attention.

He noticed the woman loosen her muscles around him, unwinding with the sweetness melting on her tongue. He could tell that she was buried in her thoughts, judging by her expressions. He stared at her glistening features as they changed positions, her mouth closed, chewing and swallowing the cake graciously.

It took him awhile to process the intriguing creature that persisted before him, and he couldn't really believe it was happening after all they've gone through the past couple of days. It had been an eternity since he had last laid his eyes on such a gracefully welcoming face from the past. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

His mind drifted back to a darker past. Before his amnesia, he remembered her beyond terrified face and her eyes glued on his fight with her dear comrade. What was his name again…Natsu?

Natsu Dragneel?

That name was seething in his mouth, and he wanted to destroy anything he could get his hands on when he thought of him. He was someone he particularly wanted to crush, but more importantly he wanted to torture that damned dragon slayer for days on end.

No one will ever be able to lay a hand on her.

She was his.

And his alone.