Chapter seven: Heart stopper

It was a normal day in the Fairy Tail guild hall on a regular Thursday in July. It was still sweltering hot outside, and most of the mages were trying to cool off in any way that they could. Wendy and Lisanna had their feet in small buckets of cold water, Bixslow and Freed had stolen Evergreen's fans, Lucy was wearing even more revealing clothing than usual, and Cana was drinking twice as much. Barley anyone was out on a job and even more people have been staying at home that past few days.

Erza sat at her spot on the bar, casually sipping at a glass of lemonade. Cana was half asleep on her right, and on the seat behind the bar, Mirajane seemed to be sewing something. Erza eyed her curiously, she couldn't exactly tell what she was trying to make. The fabric was small and colorful, and it wasn't something Erza could see the bar maid wearing, at least not in public. She was quite bored actually, and really wanted to go out since there was nothing else to do. Although, she knew Lucy wouldn't want to work in this weather, and truthfully, Erza liked waiting for Jellal to come "Home" every day to the guild after his job. Ever since Jellal had explained everything to her on that day in Hargeon, he seemed more comfortable around her and everyone else. Jellal sure was odd, but wasn't he always? Not to mention reckless... the light mage had come back from a couple of jobs with more than just a few scratches.

The guild was unusually quiet; it was almost too hot to speak. And that's saying something, especially for Fairy Tail. But of course, there was Natsu and Gray, who never seemed to run out of energy or reason to fight no matter what the situation.

"Hey freezy, you wanna go?" Erza sighed as she watched the fire dragon slayer face his rival with a determined stare.

"Shut up flame-brain!" Gray seemed extremely annoyed; the ice mage looked like he was melting in this sweltering weather. Natsu on the other hand, seemed to be even more hyper and fired up than usual. He looked to be the only one who was benefitting from the heat wave.

"I'll kick you into next week!" Natsu clashed his fists together and through a punch at Gray, who dodged, causing the fire mage to trip and topple over.

"Fuckin' salamander! Get off me!"

Any other time Erza would have beaten the crap out of the two of them, but she was seriously not in the mood. She took another sip out of her lemonade, watching as Elfman yelled at Natsu and Gray about how they have to be manlier or something. Typical Elfman conversation.

"Mira, just what the hell are you trying to make? Don't tell me you're actually going to wear all those colors!" Cana, who was another sip of her beer from being completely drunk, suddenly mentioned her nakama's sewing as she rolled her eyes at the barmaid. "Yes... I was thinking the same thing." Said Erza. "Oh, this? It's not for me, it's a shirt I'm making for little Asuka! I saw this cute fabric at the market and thought it would be perfect for her!" The take-over mage smiled and held up her work-in-progress for her two friends to see. The small cloth was clad in bright tie-dye swirls.

Well... it was... interesting?

Erza tried to find the right words to describe it. Cana on the other hand, had completely lost her filter. "Geez Mira, you wanna embarrass the girl this early?" The card magician through her arm over Mirajane's shoulder and hiccupped. Mira sighed, "Aw come on Cana! What other time in her life will she be able to wear something like this? I think it's adorable!" Cana snorted and put her head on the bar, nearly knocking over her drink.

Mira happily continued sewing and glanced over at Erza. "What about you?" Erza looked up, surprised. "What do I think? Well, I think Bisca will appreciate it, but it's not something I would put on my own kids." Mira giggled, "Oh, by the way, when are you and Jellal going to have the baby?" Erza suddenly turned bright red and spit out her lemonade. "W-what? Mira, we are n-" Cana lifted her head and yelled very loudly, "You're pregna-!" Erza put her hands over her drunk friends mouth and glared at Mira, who smiled innocently.

Damn her!

Cana sputtered and struggled to get out of her friends grasp, but Erza was NOT letting a rumor like that make its way around the guild. She finally let her friend go, and the brown haired mage passed out, half her body sprawled out across the counter. Erza's eyebrow twitched, extremely annoyed. "Mira! What the hell was that?" The reequip mage slammed her fist on the wooden bar top to glare at her former rival. Mira, in return just winked. "I heard about that date you guys went on in Hargeon."

Erza's eyes widened as she thought to herself, if Jellal had said anything remotely like that to Mira... I am going to kill him!

"It was not a date! We were just conversing about-"

"Sounds like a date to me!"

Erza scowled and finished her lemonade, noticing how Mira was still eyeing her curiously. "Erza, your face is still red~!" She sang, but Erza continued to ignore the takeover mage. "You know, I remember hearing a story when I was little, about an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. According to the story, the thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break. Could it be you and Jellal are connected by that thread?"" Mira chuckled as Erza rolled her eyes. "Honestly Mira, one day you're match-making and teasing is going to go too far and-" Suddenly, Erza's sentence was cut short as the old, creaky doors of the guild were thrown open with a bang. The hazy summer rays light up the guild hall as everyone turned their attention to whoever was coming through.

Erza felt her heart stop as soon as she saw who it was.

Jellal.

Covered in blood.

The light mage was tripping over his own feet, one eye closed as he clutched his right side. Ultear and Meredy were holding him up, their own bodies scarred and bleeding, but not as bad. Their clothes were torn and they both looked exhausted. Jellal on the other hand, really looked like he was on his last legs. A cut on his forehead oozed thick blood, and his entire face was nearly the color of his tattoo. His boots were missing, and dark red stains started to appear on his coat and pants.

"Jellal!" Erza screamed and ran towards him, and the rest of the guild got out of their seats to try and aid their comrades. Mira grabbed her first aid kit and Wendy followed right behind her. Ultear and Meredy dropped their friend, who landed with a thud on the hard floor. The two female mages were panting and struggled to hold themselves up. Behind them, a young black-haired girl peaked out from behind the guild's large doors, and whimpered softly. She wasn't hurt aside from a few scrapes, but she was crying and her hat was missing.

"Asuka!" Bisca ran from her table on the right side of the guild hall to her daughter, fear and relief in her eyes. The green-haired mage pulled the little girl into her arms and picked her up. Askua buried her face into her mother's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her neck.

Erza fell to her knees and pulled Jellal up by the shoulders of his coat.

"Jellal! Get up! What happened to you?" The blue-haired man said nothing, and it looked like he was out cold. His eyes were closed and his moth was in an o-shape.

"Jellal-san!" A wide-eyed Wendy bent down and stared at her big brother figure with tears in her eyes. The sky dragon slayer turned to look at Charle for approval to use her magic before placing her hands on his chest, trying to heal him. Jellal's breathing was soft and shallow, and his skin was pale.

No…No, this can't be happening!

Erza's hands were shaking and now covered with a decent amount of blood.

"Mira!" The scarlet-haired mage called to her friend, who was tending to Ultear and Meredy's wounds. "Hand me some binding!" The barmaid nodded and tossed Erza a roll of white medical binding, used for sealing wounds and stopping blood flow.

Wendy nodded to Erza and paused her healing magic, letting Erza remove Jellal's bloodied coat to bind a large gash on her friends arm.

What could have happened to cause this…Jellal is an extremely powerful mage, who could have inflicted this much damage to him?

A crowd was starting to form around the injured mages, and gasps came from all sides of the room.

"What happened?"

"Is everyone ok?"

"Should we get help?"

"… …Who did this?"

Ultear slowly lifted her head to look the fire mage in the eye. It seemed she was having trouble speaking. "We…we saw Asuka chase a cat into a dark alleyway…we ran after her, and were attacked…"

Everyone suddenly turned towards Natsu, the Dragon Slayer's face was shadowed and his fists were clenched.

"Whoever did this…Is going to pay! I'll kill those bastards!" He suddenlystormed out of theguild, hiseyes flaming. "Come out you cowards! You couldn't have gone far! Anyone who messes with my friends messes with me!" Erza watched as he ran out of sight, and small raindrops began to fall on the ground outside.

Natsu…

"Natsu, calm down! Come back!" Lucy yelled and ran after him, splashing through the small puddles that were starting to form. "Get back to the guild Natsu! You don't know how powerful those guys are!"

Erza turned back to Jellal, who was still in critical condition. She took a small towel and began wiping the blood off of his forehead and out of his hair.

Please be ok…I don't want to lose you again.


Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the chapter…but I honestly hated how this one came out. I'm sorry…But the next one will be better, I promise!

I also need you guy's to help me out with something…Ok, so I need help with Jellal/Erza kid's names. Possibly for this story, possibly for a future story…I'm not telling! I'm thinking Kino for a boy's name but I have no idea what I would use for girls names…

Anyway, I would love name suggestions for both genders, so if you could leave a review and a few names, I would really appreciate it!

Thank you all for reading! 3