Note: Written by Hikari no Sadame (I was supposed to take Mystwalker's part but things have happened and I won't be continuing, but I felt I owed it to Hikari to put her part up).

Unexpected

Jellal headed toward the large castle hastily, assuming it would get him to the capital. While rushing to get some answers (i.e. where the hell am I?), he reached for his pockets, felt nothing but air, and immediately stopped.

He continued to fumble around and just about patted every orifice in his clothing.

Nothing…

"No. No no no no no, you can't be serious."

He frantically searched the area for the box, sighing and mentally berating himself.

Heart racing rapidly, breathing labored and fists clenched, Jellal banged his head against a nearby tree.

"God, Jellal, how stupid can you get?! Get your shit together, man."

What grown man loses his engagement ring? The last time he lost something so important was probably his memories, and that was years ago. He thought he had matured since then, but the lack of responsibility made him feel like reckless adolescent.

All of a sudden, the ground beneath him began to dissipate and he fell, face first into the hardwood second floor of Fairy Tail.

"What the-," before he could understand what had just happened, a worried blonde looked back at him with a scowl on her face.

"Jellal! I was looking all over for you. Where the hell did you go? I almost thought you decided to run away."

"Sorry- I…I got caught up in some stuff. Nothing exciting. I really do apologize for leaving you behind, Lucy."

She sighed as her frown turned into a smile, "it's okay. I was worried about you. Just don't do it again, alright?"

"Yeah, of course. Sorry…again," he let out a nervous chuckle, running a hand through his hair.

"Anyway, I'm just glad you didn't chicken out. Erza, over here! Jellal has a big surprise~," she giggled and winked at Jellal before starting to walk in the opposite direction.

"LUCY-no, I don't actually have a surprise, well, not on me right now-please, no, Lucy, DON'T LEAVE!"

She smirked, too far to hear his pleas. "I'll call the rest of them over after you two get your nice moment together."

As Lucy skipped down the stairs, Erza chuckled, closing the distance between them while Jellal prayed to God, Buddha, Allah, and just about any being greater than life that came to mind at such desperate times to help him make the incoming conversation just a little less awkward.

"Hey…Erza," he smiled childishly and ran his hand through his azure bangs again. "I..uh, I have no idea what she's talking about."

The redhead looked at him skeptically, "She said you had a surprise for me? I assumed a pretty big one considering how hyper Lucy was about it. What's up? You know you can tell me anything."

"Yeah, uh…I just wanted to tell you…that… I…um, love you. S-Surprisee?" He grinned coyly as he kissed her cheek lightly.

"Yeah, I know. And the sky is blue. And I love you too. And Gray's shirtless. Thanks for that wonderful insight!"

She held his hands softly for a few moments before gently letting go and returning downstairs.

"Lucy, I think we need to redefine your meaning of 'big surprise'. He's not pregnant. False alarm, guys!"

Lucy turned around in disbelief, "Whaddya mean it wasn't a big surprise? He only pro-," right before she said it, the blond saw the frantic 'SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, ABORT MISSION, ABORT, DO YOU COPY' signals from Jellal.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that, Lucy," Erza shouted over the stairs.

"Oh…uh… I mean, he only pr..acticed on you. It was practice. Yeah. Jellal didn't tell you? He's planning on making this extravagant speech about how fond he's grown of Fairy Tail. How we're practically family and how much he values- and loves- us. That happened."

Jellal looked at Lucy disapprovingly, "Wait, what?"

Erza raised a brow, and turned toward Jellal. "…Really? Jellal, that's sweet."

He scratched his head and flashed a charming smile, "I am. That's exactly what happened."

Lucy laughed nervously as she ascended the flight of stairs. Whether it was the incessant lying or the lack of workouts lately, she was pretty winded by the time she got to the top.

"Dude, what the hell? I thought we went over this? You deserve her, Jellal. What happened to all that protection crap and what not?"

"Crap? It's not crap!"

"You know what I mean. Why are you getting cold feet now?"

"I'm not getting cold feet," he protested and mumbled under his breath "if anything, I can't even feel my feet, recently…"

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing. Lucy, I'm going to propose to her, okay? I already know what I need to do. I just need a ring."

"Wait…what? You have a ring."

"Had. I lost it! I just… I don't know. It's gone though. And I have a feeling we won't be finding it anytime soon."

"You said it took 3 missions' worth of jewels. Jellal, where are you gonna find that kind of money?"

"No clue…"

After stopping for some evening strawberry shortcake, Erza walked back to Fairy Hills. The wind blew gently, caressing her hair as she thought about what had happened earlier. She felt like something was a bit off about Jellal today. It seemed like he was hiding something.

A sharp flash of fear struck her, thinking about how much pain he brought every time Jellal left her.

Following her departure from The Tower, Erza had spent days cursing her own helplessness- her own cowardice. How could she have left him in that state? Regardless of how corrupt he had become, she should have stayed behind; he needed her more than ever then, and she failed to provide the support he so desperately required. Maybe if she had been there, just maybe, he wouldn't have had to suffer as much as he did.

She could have saved him.

It was all her fault, and upon his reappearance in her life, she felt it was her responsibility to fix everything. She could have rescued him, and he had turned into a monster because of her passivity.

Jellal may blame himself for killing Simon and hurting his friends, but Erza blamed herself for not stopping it all when she had the chance.

And because of that, she had lost him again- lost him to Zeref, to his sins, blasted away to some unknown abyss at the bottom of the ocean.

Seeing him again during the fight against Oracion Seis made her realize just how much he meant to her. Simply standing there before her, Jellal had made her heart beat that much quicker and filled her chest with a warm, heavy rush of relief. She understood that all she needed was for him to be by her side. Always.

It crushed her, finding out that he had lost all his memories. But at least he had returned to the kind, caring boy she once knew. She thought that even if Jellal didn't remember anything about his past, all that mattered was that he was here; the Jellal that she fell for years ago was here. She thought that this could be their reset button- their new beginning. And she hated herself for thinking so naïvely.

He was, for all intents and purposes, a criminal.

And just like that, she had lost him again.

But this time, it hurt even more. This time, she had given herself hope. And as she watched him, handcuffed and attempting to act bravely for her sake, all that hope had crumbled into pieces, leaving nothing but sorrow and rage in its place.

She was furious at herself for letting him go. She was furious at the Rune Knights for taking him away, and she was furious at Jellal for that stupid, dumb, irritating smile that never left his face.

This time, she thought, he was gone. Forever.

When they were reunited again, she told herself not to make the same mistake. Jellal Fernandes had a habit of suddenly disappearing, whimsically falling in and out of her life. And she wasn't about to let down her walls to be left completely devastated once more.

After months of tentative flirting and reminiscing, Erza had inadvertently let him in because this time, this time she was sure he wouldn't leave her behind.

This time, she convinced herself, he would stay by her side, always and forever.

As she made her way to her apartment, Erza tried to suppress her growing fears. She couldn't even imagine how broken she'd become if he vanished.

But if there were one single thing different about this time, it was that she trusted him.

She trusted that he would tell her what was troubling him when he felt ready. Erza had faith, and it alone cleared her mind of all irrelevant thoughts. She believed in Jellal, and she believed in herself for finally making the right choice.

Putting her key in the lock, Erza felt the ground underneath her begin to shift. Suddenly, she felt her whole body fall through the floor as she landed abruptly, butt-first, on hard soil.