Chapter 2
It wasn't a dream. Jellal had woken up from his sleep, his eyes raw from crying, to the sound of barking from disgusting, huge, dog-like creatures with sharp teeth and spiked collars.
"Time to get to work, slaves!" Yelled one of the guards. Whichever one this one was, Jellal still couldn't tell, though he wasn't the fat one.
"We're getting the new shipment of workers in three days!" Yelled another from across the enclosure.
Great. Thought Jellal. More people ripped from their homes.
The rest of the day was spent being ordered around, learning to haul materials thrice his size and using it to build the abomination the slaves were stolen for.
Finally, at night, the exhausted prisoners were left to rot in their cells in peace. Jellal noticed an elderly man in the corner, telling some listeners about his time in a town called Magnolia.
The fellow occupants in their cell had taken to calling him Grandpa Rob, because he was treating each of his inmates as family.
"Back in Magnolia, I belonged to one of the most legendary wizarding guilds of all time: Fairy Tail" Grandpa Rob told his audience. "In that guild, we didn't necessarily have the brightest members, or very obedient ones for that matter. Many of them weren't even very strong at magic. But that never mattered to us. The bonds we formed and shared there give me light even in the darkest places. It never mattered where we came from, our hearts were all the same. I don't expect you to believe me, but one of my closest friends there was from a different dimension." A different dimension? Thought Jellal. I can't even imagine one of those existing. I wonder if I will ever meet someone from a different world - but his thoughts were interrupted by what Grandpa Rob said next.
" ...so if you are feeling disheartened by our circumstances, just remember the faces of those you love, and the bonds you share. Would they want for you to give up hope? I think not! They would want you to carry on, striving to live. If we die trying to escape here, at least we will die with fire in our hearts. At least we will have tried...that being said, I think we should all try to plan things out before trying anything that could get us killed."
Bonds...I used to have a bond with my mother. But she's dead now. Thought Jellal abysmally. But, as per Grandpa Rob's advice, he envisioned her telling him that she loved him again. Seeing her face in his mind's eye, he wondered what advice she would give to him in this situation. "Don't give up yet" she told him. "You still have so much to experience in this world. I have so much hope for the man you will become. You can get through this"
She's right. He thought. I promise that I won't give up so easily. I promise that I'll try - no, that I WILL make it out of here alive.
As he lay down, he began to think of ways to escape this hell he had been brought to, and fell asleep to dreams of freedom.
The next few days passed in the same manner as the previous; the same taxing work, the same lashings if anyone made a mistake, the same pathetically small, unsatisfying food portions. But Jellal continued his mantra in his mind, over and over. I will not die here. I will earn my freedom. I will not die here. I will earn my freedom…
On the dawn of Jellal's fourth day of captivity, the prisoners awoke to the sound of ship horns. "They're here with the new shipment of workers!" Yelled one of the guards.
The doors to the building opened and an influx of people entered. Most of this lot of slaves looked to be children. The sight of so many people being taken by force to this dark underworld made him feel queasy. Or perhaps that was just his body's reaction to days of malnutrition and hard labour.
The doors to their cell were opened and a portion of the new haul of prisoners were lead inside. Their breakfast of stale bread was handed out, and the new recruits were told to get some rest for when their shift started in a few hours. The guards then left to section off the rest of the prisoners, leaving the occupants of his cell to their own devices.
Jellal looked around at the new people brought in. As he noted before, most of them were children.
Something bright caught his eye just then. A vibrant shade of scarlet that contrasted boldly against the grey stone and shady darkness of the prison cell. Something about it made Jellal's stomach feel light and his heart felt like it was fluttering in his chest. What is this? He mused.
A moment later, he realized that the scarlet shade belonged to one of the prisoners - a little girl, who looked about his age, was huddled in the corner, her vibrant hair shaking with her sobs.
He didn't understand why, but seeing her there like that brought on a myriad of emotions, none of which he understood. He felt horrified that such an innocent looking girl had been subjected to the cruelty of being brought here. He felt saddened over how tragic she looked - someone as cute and young as her shouldn't have had to face such turmoil in their lifetime. He felt nervous, because the way she was crying made him want to go comfort her, but the thought of talking to her made his heart race and feel like it was the most impossible feat in the world. He also felt guilty, because seeing her made him feel oddly happy to be here. Not because he enjoyed the situation in the slightest - he didn't - but because being here in this context, they were bound to have to interact with one another, and the prospect of seeing her every day made him excited. Surely he should not feel grateful for being here. Surely he was a bad and selfish person for feeling happy, even in the slightest, about them being stuck here together.
How am I feeling such a surge of emotions at once? Jellal wondered. It was like the scarlet girl had just awakened bright colours in his life after days of nothing but gray melancholy and black horror.
As he was trying to come to terms with his influx of emotions, he noticed Grandpa Rob approaching the scarlet girl.
"There there" Grandpa Rob said, placing a hand on her shoulder "I know that you feel lost and alone right now, and it is true that this is a dismal situation we are in. But all of us here are in it together. We must not lose our hope for the future, we must believe that we can get through this together." The little girl turned around to face Grandpa Rob, and Jellal's heart broke again at the sight of her big, dark eyes filled with tears. Then his heart stopped entirely as she smiled through her sadness. "I think I can do that" She replied to Grandpa Rob.
"Good" He replied. "You can call me Grandpa Rob if you like - everyone else here does. Now dear, if you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"
"It's Erza" She replied.
Erza...Thought Jellal. Just thinking about her name made his heart begin to stutter again. He thought back to his mother, to the promise that he had made to her. Was this what she meant by loving someone. He glanced over at Erza again, and wondered what it would be like to dedicate himself to her fully, though he wasn't entirely sure what that meant. Still...He thought. That doesn't sound so bad.
He wasn't able to make use of the extra few hours of sleep before their work began. He felt too jittery after seeing her...her scarlet hair...I want to touch it. I want to run my fingers through it and smell it.
He spent his time glancing back at the girl while the others all slept. He didn't want to sleep, if he did then he might wake up to discover it had all been a dream.
Her name is Erza...Erza. My scarlet Erza. I'll make sure we get out of this together.