The right time to fall
Erza's flat
Jellal restlessly laid on his bed. He had taken off the fancy clothing Erza had given him, so all he was wearing was boxers. He had been trying to sleep for almost two hours but he wasn't the least bit tired. Usually at this time of night, he would wander the streets, salvaging all the wasted food from the restaurants in the area. It had been over 2 months since Jellal had a roof over his head.
Once again Jellal closed his eyes, he didn't want to recall the events with Erza that happened in the evening again and this time he didn't. Instead he saw glimpses of his family one by one; his mother then his father and lastly his ex-fiancée. She stood with her back facing Jellal and swiftly turned around, making her lavishly long, black hair fly gracefully. She had a magnificent smile on her face and gently placed a lock of her hair behind her ear.
Jellal raised his hand and began to take steps forward, he was trying to touch his once love. However, just as he was about to reach her, her smile became sinister. She lifted her hand and admired her engagement ring. She then turned around again to face Jellal's parents, they were laughing and drinking together. Jellal tried to get his parents away from her but ropes had bound his hands and feet. He tried to shout at his parents to get away but they couldn't hear him. He could see them slowly going off into the distance.
The next moment they were all in an office signing a document. All of his restraints were lifted; he began to run towards his parents; to stop them. However, his parents had already signed the document with no qualms and his ex-fiancée had signed it too. Next it was his turn to sign the document, he adamantly refused to do it but when he looked at the document it was already signed with his name. Although he tried to rip it, as soon as he touched the document it disappeared.
He then found himself in a bedroom with his ex-fiancée. Alone. She stood in front of him and once again gave a sinister smile. Jellal charged towards her but everything blacked out. He then saw her, as she laid on the floor, her eye was bruised black and her mouth was bleeding.
"Ultear!" Jellal woke with a start. He wiped the sweat of his face and looked out the window. The early rays of the sun had come out. He got out of bed, changed and went into the bathroom to wash his face.
Jellal: Why did that dream come back? Damn it! I don't want to think about that of all things. I won't be able to sleep now. I need to distract myself.
Jellal entered the living room and switched on the TV.
Inside the bar
Lucy: damn it's been such a long day. When the hell is my shift ending? Urgh, these customers are so annoying but they are the ones that give me my salary. Be nice Lucy and remember to smile.
Lucy was rushing from customer to customer, each giving her their own version of verbal harassment. She had already grown accustomed to them, mostly, but after getting a scolding from Aquarius about coming late on her cover shift and her parents nagging her about one thing or another she had become tired of everything.
"Hey sugar fill me another!" Shouted a 40 year old man who had been sitting next to the window across the bar. His beard was rugged and teeth were yellow; it was clear he didn't give a damn about his outward appearance. Lucy grabbed a bottle of vodka and felt like throwing it but as she was about to lift it she saw something in the window that drained away all of her frustration. She left the vodka on the table, ran out of the bar and turned towards the alleyway.
Erza's flat
A noise in the living room woke Erza up. She glimpsed at her phone and saw it was 8am in the morning.
Erza: gosh! I never wake up this early. I rarely have a need to. It must be Jellal making the noise, why is he up? I guess Jellal did wonder around aimlessly during the nights. He probably could get much sleep because of his sleeping patterns, or maybe what he said to me last night kept him up.
Erza's face went scarlet. She got out of bed and went into the living room only to see Jellal watching the news attentively. "You like watching the news then Jellal?"
Jellal was startled by Erza's presence, he hadn't noticed her walk into the room. He immediately grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"Yes you did." Erza didn't care too much for white lies; she would usually just tell things how they were. "But no worries, it nice to wake up early once in a while." Erza smiled at him and saw his eyes were bloodshot. "You didn't sleep well last night? Is there anything wrong, like maybe the mattress is uncomfortable or-?"
Memories of last night slowly cropped back into Jellal's mind but he managed to subdue them since he saw that Erza wasn't saying anything about it. "No, honestly I was so comfortable last night, I am well and truly grateful."
"Then why couldn't you sleep? If there's anything I can do to help." Erza pressed.
"Well, it's quite embarrassing but I had a bad dream. That's all. There's nothing you can do to help that" Jellal looked down in an attempt to hide his face.
"A bad dream isn't embarrassing, and I can help with it. You can tell me what happened. Generally people feel better after they talk about it."
Jellal rapidly stood up. "NO! ...I'm sorry but it's not something I'd like to talk about. It's personal."
"It's alright, I understand you not wanting to tell me. But know this, I'll always lend you an ear." Erza walked towards Jellal and grabbed his arm. "Anyway, since we are up so early, you might as well help me with wedding preparations. I'll be heading to Natsu's place later, you can come along if you want." Erza sat down on the sofa dragging Jellal down with her.
Natsu's house
"I seriously don't understand why we need to invite so many people but I guess I did fall in love with all of Erza, including her extravagance." Natsu sighed as he was trying to sort out the caterers. He had been trying for hours but the engagement party being so close and having so many people invited for it, it was no wonder that no one was willing to cater for them.
Natsu got his coat and decided to take a walk. He didn't know where he was going he just wanted a bit of fresh air. Soon he realised his legs had brought him to 'the Dragons Head'. He looked inside and caught a glimpse of Lucy before she disappeared behind the bar counter.
Natsu: that was Lucy just now wasn't it? I guess she has a shift now, maybe I should go say hi. Wait no I can't! I have no reason too, I don't drink… often, and I barely even know Lucy. Damn, I could've given her the wedding invitation now too. But I want to see her. I guess I could get a sneak peek.
Natsu stretched his neck as far as he could to see her again but to no avail. He looked around to see if there was anything he could climb on to get a better view inside and found some dustbins in an alleyway right next to the bar. He climbed on top of them and from there he got a perfect view of Lucy. She was doing as any bartender should be doing; serving her customers. But something was slightly off about her.
"HEY YOU?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING UP THERE? GET OFF MY FRIKIN' BINS!" A man with blonde hair ran out of the back entrance of the bar.
Natsu: Crap! I don't want to deal with this crap now! I only came out for some fresh air!
Natsu jumped off the bins, tipping them all over, and started to run in the opposite direction.
"YOU BETTER NOT COME AGAIN YOU PINK HAIRED HOBO!" The Blonde haired man screamed. Lucy came running into the alleyway in a panic. "Leo why are you screaming?"
Lucy looked at the ground and saw a pile of rubbish. "Hell no I'm not cleaning that!"
"I'm not telling you to clean it Lucy, just go serve the customers. I'll deal with this" Leo seemed almost as exhausted as Lucy did, maybe even more so. Lucy was about to go back into the bar when she asked "By the way, Leo… who was it that made this mess? Was it a pink haired boy?"
"Pink haired… Lucy, do you know him? Because if you do, you'll be clearing up his mess! Wait… he was looking in through the window, wasn't he? Was he signalling you to come outside? Or is he a stalker…. Or both!?" Leo started to panic.
"No! He's definitely not a stalker and he wasn't signalling for me to come outside. I just saw him out of the window that's all" Lucy defended.
"How do you know he's not a stalker if you don't know him, and why did you come outside if he wasn't signalling you to come outside? Lucy the only reason your parents agreed to let you work here was because they knew I'd protect you, so you need to tell me if anything is wrong"
"Nothing is wrong Leo. I do know him, he's a friend that's why I know he's not a stalker and he wasn't signalling for me to come outside either. I don't know why he was there"
"Well that's great! Since you know him you can clear up his mess. The brooms inside and you won't be getting extra pay either. I'll be covering for you in the bar. Now get on with it!" Leo strolled back inside relieved that he didn't have to clear up the garbage.
Lucy stood alone outside, her temper was rising fast. In an effort to vent her anger, she kicked the dustbin hard but all that did was injure her and made her more frustrated.
Lucy: Damn you Leo! It's so frickin' cold here and there's so much trash. Well at least I don't have to serve those drunken idiots inside but now I'm going to get stared at by perverted onlookers.
Lucy's phone started to ring. "Oh now what?!" she cried with irritation.
Erza's flat
"Wow! Getting a venue was easier than I thought" Erza said with an accomplished face. She got up and collected her things in one pile and put them in a bag. "Jellal go and get ready we are leaving for Natsu's now."
Erza looked at Jellal and saw that he needed something less flashy to wear in public. She ran into her room full of clothes and looked top to bottom for unisex clothes. She re-emerged with a black hoodie and some loose jeans. She threw them to Jellal and told him to wear them. She then went into her own room and to get dressed.
After half an hour they left the flat. Erza was wearing a red netted top with black slacks, she tied her hair back into a tight pony tail and wore knee length boots. She decided to leave her motorbike at home as she didn't have a suit or helmet to lend to Jellal. Then it occurred to her that she would need to buy Natsu a motorbike suit so that he could ride with her. The thought of getting married excited Erza and a wide smile appeared on her face.
She and Jellal got to the bottom floor and managed to catch a taxi to ride in. When they sat inside Jellal asked "Is it really alright for me to come to Natsu's house? I mean, I'll be intruding, wont I?"
Erza just said it was fine and they carried on with their journey. With every minute of being in the taxi Jellal grew more nervous. "You know what Erza, I don't think I'll be able to meet your fiancé, please don't ask why… I just can't. I'm sorry"
"If you say so, I could tell you were very nervous but I thought you would hold out. You can meet Natsu at the engagement party. I'll take some clothes from him for you alright." Erza said with a hint of disappointment. She then added "And I've noticed that you haven't been calling me Scarlet for a while now, I genuinely did love that nickname you gave me."
"I'm sorry Scarlet… I just didn't know if it was appropriate to call you that anymore."
"I said it was fine to call me that so please do so. If you don't, I may get angry and let me tell you I'm not too sexy then." Erza muffled a laugh and Jellal's face went red.
"Thanks for the warning Scarlet." Jellal said sarcastically as he let out a smile. "Could you stop here please?" The taxi came to a stop. "I know where you live Erza so I'll make my own way home."
"You know where I live? Haha that sounds like you're a stalker! I expect you to be there alright and if you're not I will search every alleyway in this town until I find you and then I'll give you hell, got it?" Erza said with a smile as Jellal got out of the taxi.
"Got it." Jellal replied, then he shut the door and started to walk down the street. On the way he saw a pub called 'The Dragon's Head' he thought about going inside but then realised he had no money.
"PLEASE COULD YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!" A girl cried from the alleyway. Jellal ran towards the voice, he thought someone was getting attacked, instead he saw a crying girl on the floor throw her phone at the wall whilst being surrounded by trash.
Jellal: Do I really want to get involved?
A/N- I hope this chapter wasn't too complicated with all the changes in points of view but oh well, i thought it was fine. I hope you're enjoying the story so far! We are already on chapter 6, time flies in the storyverse... sorry :P I may be reducing the length of these chapters next week because i'm getting really close to some really important exams and i want to keep writing. It's kinda a dilemma but it's alright. If i miss any weeks of story its because of my exams. The oh so busy life of a high school student