It was late afternoon by the time Erza and the Master made it back to the guild hall. During the train ride back, Makarov had asked her questions about her sudden bloodlust and desire to kill Siegrain. Knowing that she couldn't answer truthfully, Erza simply told him that Jellal had once hurt her, and that she had mistaken Siegrain for his brother, and that it was all a misunderstanding. Makarov hadn't seemed satisfied, but he left her alone, sensing that she wanted time by herself. Their walk through Magnolia had been just as silent.

"Hey, look who made it back," Mira jeered as she saw Makarov and Erza walking into the guild hall. "I'm surprised she didn't try to destroy the Magic Council's headquarters and get jailed."

"Mira, be nice," Lisanna scolded, giving Erza a nervous look as she walked past them. Lucky for the Strauss sisters, the redhead was completely ignoring them, her face shadowed.

"So did they put you on trial?" Natsu asked excitedly, walking up to Erza with a wide grin on his face. "What was the Council like?"

An image of Siegrain shot through her head and Erza stopped in her tracks.

The other young kids of Fairy Tail watched her in slight confusion. "Hey Erza?" Cana called. "You okay?"

Erza was quiet, and continued her silence as she spun on her heel and marched straight back out the door, her guildmates watching her go.

"Geez, what's up with her?" Natsu muttered, crossing his arms indignantly and wandering off, most likely to start a fight.

Mira smirked at the door. "Whatever," she snorted. "If she just wants to go mope around because the Council scolded her then no one's stopping her."

"Since when did you care so much?" Lisanna muttered. As the sisters started debating, their brother cautiously trying to break them up, Gray stared after Erza, wondering what on earth could silence the redheaded swordswoman.

FT

After walking for five straight minutes, Erza finally arrived to her destination; the riverbank outside the guild hall. Sitting down on the riverbank, she pulled the sword out of the sheath that was always at her side. Erza could see her reflection in the smooth metal, illuminated by the sunset behind her – and was not at all surprised to see tears welling up in her left eye.

Wiping them away shakily with the back of her hand, Erza took the sword and calmly plunged it into the soil in front of her. Then, no longer able to hold herself together, she wrapped both trembling hands around its handle and let the tears flow from her eye, her shoulder shaking as she tried to suppress a sob and failed.

The shock of seeing Siegrain, and all of those terrible memories coming back, and learning that her friends were still in that wretched Tower of Heaven, still suffering, because of her cowardice, made her sick. Gasping, Erza clutched her sword harder, her fingers tightening to the point of breaking.

Their faces wouldn't stop flowing through her head. Simon, who had always been so kind to her. Shou, oh, poor Shou… him and Milliana were so young, and so scared… both the two of them and Wally had been so brave, especially in their situation. And Grandpa Rob, who sacrificed himself to save Erza from being blasted into oblivion, the last sight of him being the Fairy Tail mark on his back….

And then there was him… Jellal. Just thinking about that name made Erza miserable, and guilty, and a whole slew of other emotions that she didn't even know the names of. Jellal had most likely been what she could've called her best friend; staying by her side, comforting her, giving her a name when she didn't have one, even holding a rebellion to rescue her from the hellish torture the followers of Zeref inflicted. Jellal had been the one person to make everything right in her life.

And then… he was gone. Sure, Jellal remain in body, but his mind had gone away to other places – dark places. Places she didn't even know existed, places he might be out of reach, incapable of being rescued. Erza no longer had hope of helping him.

After so long away from the Tower, Erza had always thought about what she would do if she even went back and confronted Jellal. And, despite being caught off guard at his – or rather, his brother's – appearance at the Magic Council, she had followed through directly with her plan: to attack relentlessly until Jellal was dead. And okay, even if she had been stopped by Makarov, when they were walking to the train she could have requipped one of her swords out and attacked him, couldn't she? But that wasn't the issue. It wasn't that Erza hadn't thought of it. It was that she couldn't kill the boy she had loved, as a brother and a best friend and so many other things – even if it meant her family had to continue suffering.

Erza couldn't believe her own weakness. She had left the Tower, and she had left them; she left her friends, her family, her nakama, and Jellal was probably hurting them, working them, torturing them, he could even kill them without a second thought if he wanted to and she just – she couldn't–

"Erza?"

She froze as her name was called out and, straightening out her shoulders, turned to face the speaker.

"What do you want, Gray?" Erza muttered, trying to keep her voice from shaking and failing.

Gray frowned as she faced him. "You're crying," he stated, looking vaguely shocked.

Erza sniffed irritably and wiped her eye on the back of her hand. "Yeah, I noticed, thanks," she said bitterly. Gray watched her for a moment more before walking cautiously down the slope to join her at the riverbank.

"So what's the matter with you?" he asked bluntly. Erza turned away and narrowed her eyes at the water.

"It's nothing. I'll be fine," she mumbled stiffly, not wanting to talk about her feeling with Gray of all people. He was a good friend, but from the way he talked with and treated the other people at the guild, Erza could tell that the stripping ice wizard had almost zero perception of other people's feelings.

Gray snorted. "No way," he said. "You're one of the toughest wizards in Fairy Tail, and when I find you crying next to a river, you want me to believe that you're just fine? That's a load of crap."

She glared at him coldly. "Gray, you don't–"

"Was it the Magic Council?" Gray pressed on, not willing to let up. "You know, with one word you could sic Natsu on them like a rabid dog and their headquarters would be brought to the ground."

"No, that's not–"

"Was it that new member people were talking about? Or did Mira say something? Or–"

"Gray!"

The boy stopped, blinking before resuming his usual bored expression. "Okay, fine. I'm going. Don't fall into the river or something."

As he turned to leave, Erza suddenly felt a pang of regret. She sure didn't need someone to talk to about her feelings – although it wasn't like she could say much anyways – but what the armored wizard could use was someone to lean on.

Her hand shot out and grabbed Gray's arm.

"Wait." The ice wizard stopped, turning to face her with a doubtful look.

Erza looked at the ground. "Would you just… stay here? With me? Please?"

A blush crept across the boy's face, and he frowned before stepping back over and sitting down next to her.

"Happy?" he asked, glancing over at her.

Erza smiled lightly, her tears finally stopping as she pulled her sword from the ground and placed it next to her. "Yeah."

I might not be strong enough to face him now, but someday… someday, I'll save you; my family.

Jellal, Siegrain, your days are numbered. Keep a close eye out, or else you might miss the day my sword is bathed in your bloods.

There was a beautiful sunset on the day Erza came to realize that her friends would always be there for her. She would know; she watched it set with one of them.

Well, that's that. I hope y'all enjoy this last chapter; since Gray was the first one to catch Erza crying all by herself over the whole Tower thing, and because I just love their friendship and his little crush on her when they were young, that's what I decided to include in the last chapter.

The whole monologue Erza had in her thoughts wasn't the best I've ever written, and got off topic a few times, but I think it got the message through in the end. It's not as if I can judge my own piece properly; you guys just tell me if anything's wrong with it, and I'll fix it.

So, wrapping this up, I'll prolly write some more fanfics for this account in the future, provided this one gets some more attention. I don't usually write fanfics to be posted or anything, but if I decide to, some more will be put up eventually.

So like, review, all that stuff; tell me what you like and didn't like and what I should improve on, and hopefully in the future, you'll read from me again. That's all, kids.

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