I finally got the second chapter done! Well, I had it done a few days before now, but just today, I remembered I need to edit it and post it. I've been a little preoccupied lately, so I'm sorry about that. Anyways, enjoy chapter two!
Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins.
~ Charles Stanley
When I woke up, I was in a dark room. I could feel a few places where I had wounds, but they didn't hurt too badly. My phone was sitting next to me, and when I checked it, I was surprised to see that the battery was in it and it wasn't broken.
Picking up my phone, I stood up to leave. Just as I stood up, a few FTBI agents came into the room, one of which being Gray. Gray ran over to me while the other agents searched the room.
"Erza, are you okay? What happened?" he quizzed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I nodded, "As for what happened... I don't know. When I was walking home, I got hit by something and fell, hitting my head on the pavement. Then, I woke up here, alone."
"Did you just wake up today?" Gray asked with a worried tone.
"Yeah...?" I answered, confused.
"You've been missing for a week," Gray responded, "The entire time, Levy was trying to track your phone. We got the coordinates forty minutes ago."
"Oh, where's Jellal?" I asked.
"He's been at the agency in denial that you were gone," Gray replied with a frown, "I don't think he's left the agency, actually."
I sighed, annoyed with myself, "I better go see him."
"You know he's not going to let you walk anywhere for a while, right?" Gray quizzed.
"I know, but he does it to protect me," I smiled, then left the building, and Gray followed me out.
"I'll give you a ride to the agency," Gray stated.
"Thanks," I replied, getting into the passengers seat of his car. Gray drove me to the agency and dropped me off at the front doors.
"Thanks for the ride," I repeated, then quickly went inside where I saw Jellal pacing back and forth in front of Mira's desk. Mira didn't look too happy about that, but she seemed to cheer up when she saw me - probably because that meant Jellal would leave her alone now.
Jellal must've seen me out of the corner of his eye because he suddenly stopped pacing and smiled at me. I ran up to him and hugged him tightly, burying my face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and gently kissed the top of my head.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Jellal murmured.
"Let's go upstairs and get something to eat," I mumbled, "I'm starving."
Jellal brought me to the elevator, so we could go upstairs. I leaned against Jellal, so I wouldn't stumble too much. For some reason, I felt really dizzy; Jellal seemed to notice as well when we were upstairs.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jellal asked, giving me a worried look.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled, giving him a reassuring smile, "Just hungry, that's all."
"Alright, let's see if Mira made any strawberry cake," Jellal smiled, leading me to the counter of food. Before I could get any food though, Lucy noticed me.
"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed happily, giving me a hug. She had joined FTBI soon after my father was arrested. Lucy often switches between Mira's job and working as a field agent.
"Hi Lucy," I greeted, exhaustion in my voice.
"Mira made strawberry cake!" Lucy stated loudly.
I smiled, "Can't wait to eat some."
After getting a few pieces of cake, Jellal and I sat down by Natsu and Lucy. As I ate, the three of them looked at me worriedly and curiously.
"So... You've probably been asked this already, but what happened?" Lucy asked tentatively.
"Um... While I was walking home, I got hit, fell, hit my head, and blacked out. I just woke up today," I replied, annoyance clear in my voice. Couldn't I just eat in peace?
"Really? You were unconscious for a week?" Natsu shook his head in disbelief, "How hard did you hit your head?"
"I don't know," I responded.
"You should probably go see a doctor when you're done eating," Jellal suggested.
I shook my head and stubbornly responded, "Nope."
Jellal sighed, "You're really going to do this again? You did t7his after we arrested your father as well."
"And you didn't get me back in the hospital then," I retorted.
"Okay, no cake until you go see a doctor," Jellal moved my plate of cake away from me. I instinctively elbowed him in the stomach, but he didn't give me my cake back.
Leaning back in my seat, I folded my arms across my chest and pouted.
"You're meaner than Happy..." I whined.
"Hey, I'm not eating your cake, I'm just keeping it from you," Jellal pointed out.
"Too bad. Happy is better than you," I replied.
"Oh, so I'm assuming Happy proposed to you as well?" Jellal teased.
"W-well no, but that would be weird if he did... Plus he likes Carla," I mumbled.
"So, is Happy still better than me?" Jellal asked.
"You aren't making this easy," I complained, trying to grab my cake from him.
"Good," Jellal responded, holding me back.
One last try.
I rolled my eyes and stood up, "Fine, I'll go see a doctor... But only if I get to eat some of that cake on the way."
"Deal, but I'm not giving it to you until we're in the car," Jellal agreed.
Damnit...
Jellal got out of his seat and followed me back to the elevator, taking the cake with him. I tried to take the cake from him while we were in the elevator, but he threatened to drop it or even worse, give it to Happy.
When the elevator doors opened, I exited the elevator with my arms folded across my chest and my eyes trained to the ground; Jellal exited after me.
Mira looked up from her computer and laughed, "What are you doing to poor Erza?"
We stopped walking. I kept looking at the ground while Jellal responded,
"Making her go see a doctor,"
"Well, good luck Erza," Mira smiled, "and Jellal... Try to come back alive."
"Well I'm letting her eat the cake on the way," Jellal shrugged.
"Yeah, but she'll still have to communicate with a doctor," Mira pointed out.
"And she's the one who needs luck? I think the doctor is the one that needs luck," Jellal chuckled.
After a few more minutes of conversation, Jellal realized that I was starting to get dizzy again. He carefully guided me out of the agency and to his car, where he gave me my cake. I quietly ate the cake on the way to the clinic, and Jellal quietly drove.
I ended up not finishing my cake because I somehow got full, even though I hadn't eaten in a week. Almost too soon, we were at the clinic.
After checking in with the front desk, we sat down at the edge of the waiting room. As usual, I had my knees tucked up against my chest and my arms wrapped around them. I tried to ignore the doctors when they called my name, but Jellal lightly gave me a push towards the edge of my seat. I nervously glanced at him for reassurance.
"You'll be okay," Jellal nodded, "I'll be right here if you need me."
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and followed the doctor into a different room. After I told them what happened, they did a few tests.
While I waited for the results, I impatiently and nervously paced back and forth. Soon enough, the doctor came back into the room, making me stop pacing instantly.
"Okay so... There isn't too much damage due to you hitting your head, just a slight bruise. However, you were drugged, but it'll only make you drowsy or dizzy for a while, so I suggest not to do too much walking for twenty-four hours. And..." the doctor hesitated, "You're pregnant."
"What?" I exclaimed then quieted my voice and shook my head in disbelief, "No. You're lying."
"I'm not lying," she frowned.
"Yes you are," I retorted, "There's no way I could be pregnant. Nope. I've never even- Not with- No, I'm not pregnant."
There are only two words to describe what was going on in my head at that moment. Pure denial.
"Erza, calm down," the doctor interrupted my rant of denial.
I gave her a death glare, "How can I calm down?"
"Okay, I know you probably weren't expecting this and it's a lot to take in, but it's bad for your health to panic this much," she replied calmly.
"Really? I never would've guessed that," I muttered sarcastically, "It's not like anytime I panic too much, I start to hallucinate and hear voices."
Before she could respond, a new panic set into me.
"Holy shit... I can't tell Jellal. I can't. He'll blame himself like he probably already has for me being taken in the first place. Nope. Not telling Jellal," I ranted again.
I suddenly stopped ranting and looked to the doctor, "Can I give you a different phone number you can contact me with for medical information?"
"Y-yeah," she stammered, probably surprised at how my voice suddenly sounded calm. She went to her computer and quickly opened my file then got ready to type.
"Okay..." I sighed, "320-314-3738."
She typed my phone number into her computer, then turned to me.
"Alright, we'll call you about any appointments; if you have any concerns, just come to us. You can go now," she stated.
I nodded then quickly left the room, retreating to Jellal, who looked half asleep. Well, he was nearly asleep. I waved my hand in front of his face, causing him to flinch.
He yawned and stretched, "So, what did you find out?"
"There was no damage done to my head other than a slight bruise, but I was drugged. The doctor said not to do too much walking around for twenty-four hours," I explained.
"They took that long to figure that out?" he asked in surprise.
"Yeah," I smiled, "Well let's go now. I do not want to talk to another doctor for a long time."
Although I kind of have to talk to one when I have my appointments...
Jellal stood up, and we walked out of the clinic. The car ride home was absolutely silent. Neither Jellal, nor I said a word. When we got home, Jellal was the first to speak.
"Are you sure that's all they said? It took over an hour..."
"Well they did have to do quite a few tests to make sure that was all..." I mumbled, subconsciously covering my stomach with my arm. Jellal clearly noticed it wasn't my normal posture, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, we walked inside, and he got me some cake since I didn't finish the cake Mira made me.
I sat on the couch and ate the cake that Jellal got for me, while watching TV. Jellal sat next to me and also watched TV.
"Jellal," I whispered, "Would you ever get mad at me over something I can't control?"
"Of course not," Jellal responded, turning his attention to me, "Why?"
"N-no reason," I mumbled, "Just a random thought."
"Erza-" he started.
"It's nothing, I promise," I lied.
Covering my stomach with my arms, I pulled my legs onto the couch and leaned against Jellal. He put his arm around me, and I closed my eyes, listening to the steady beating of his heart.
Once I was nearly asleep, Jellal's phone rang, causing me to flinch. Jellal glanced at me before picking up his phone.
"Go back to sleep," he whispered, kissing the top of my head.
"It's fine, I wasn't asleep," I mumbled sleepily.
"Then go to sleep," he stated, "You look and sound exhausted."
"Just answer the phone," I yawned.
Jellal gave me a wary look then answered the phone, "What is it, Mirajane?"
"Oh... Do you have any idea where she is?" Jellal asked after a while, there was worry in his voice.
"Oh," he mumbled, "Okay, I'll be right there."
He hung up the phone, and I looked at him curiously.
"Um..." he hesitated, "Nobody knows where Meredy is."
"Wasn't she with Ultear?" I asked, sitting up, instantly alert.
Jellal shook his head and mumbled, frustration clear in his voice, "Not anymore. Mirajane is talking to the doctors right now, checking if they saw anything."
"We could go talk to Ultear," I suggested.
"You need to get some sleep," he responded, shaking his head.
"I'm fine, lets go talk to Ultear," I insisted, standing up.
Jellal sighed, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"
"Nope," I forced a smile to help make him believe I was well enough to go.
Jellal grabbed his keys off the coffee table and stood up, "Let's go."
We drove to the hospital, and we may or may not have been speeding a bit. Okay, a lot. Within a few minutes, we were outside the hospital, and we could hear Ultear yelling.
"Where is Pinky? She said she'd be back soon! It's been an hour!" she shouted.
"Um... We shouldn't be able to hear her while we're outside," I mumbled as we quickly walked inside and to her room. Our walking quickly turned into a run though.
Ultear was glaring at a doctor, who was failing to calm her.
"Ultear," I started, getting her attention, "Did you see Mer- err... Pinky leave with anyone?"
She nodded, "She left with a tall man."
"Do you remember any specific details about what he looked like?" Jellal asked.
"He was really tall," Ultear stated, "and he had... Black hair, a-and blue eyes. No... Maybe they were brown… Or black? He had a scar by his left eye too… Maybe it was his right eye though?"
Ultear shook her head and began mumbling to herself.
I cleared my throat to get Ultear's attention again; she looked up at me expectantly.
"Did you recognize him at all?" I asked.
She hesitated, "I don't know. I feel like I should, but I don't."
Once again, she started mumbling to herself. I shook my head and exited the room with Jellal. Covering my stomach with my arm, I leaned against the wall and thought about the possibilities. Jellal gave me a concerned look, confirming that he noticed my sudden change in posture.
"What if it's the same person?" I asked nobody in particular.
"Could be," Jellal nodded.
There was a moment of silence, then Jellal spoke again.
"Erza, what are you trying to hide from me?"
"What? Nothing," I answered quickly.
"Really? So you're just changing your posture for the heck of it?" he tested, "The last time you changed your posture, it was to cover the fact that you had been branded."
"W-well I'm not hiding anything," I lied.
"Erza-" Jellal started.
"Let's hurry and find Meredy," I interrupted, "before anything happens to her."
Without giving him time to respond, I went back into Ultear's room to ask her more questions.
(Meredy's POV)
"Please let me go," I pleaded, my voice weak.
The man who had his back to me, turned around to face me, an evil grin on his face.
"If I let you go, that would put your friends minds at ease... Especially Erza's," he winked and turned around to finish whatever he was doing.
Twisting my hands, I tried to struggle free from the rope that held my wrists together. When I finally freed my hands, I leaned forward and untied the rope that was around my ankles. Just as I stood up, the man that had taken me turned around.
"Trying to escape?" he smirked, "That's not good... Maybe you should get the same fate as Erza."
"What did you do to Erza?" my voice came out as a whisper.
"Want me to demonstrate?" he suggested with an evil grin.
"N-never mind... I don't need to know," I mumbled.
"Good, now sit back down," he grumbled, "before I change my mind."
Sitting back down, I tucked my knees up against my chest; it seemed to relax me a little bit.
Isn't this how Erza normally sits?
Shaking my head to clear my mind, I looked around for an easy way to escape. I had no idea what he did to Erza, but I most certainly didn't want to stick around and find out.
"Drink this," the man handed me a bottle of water, "You need to stay hydrated."
I cautiously took the bottle of water from him. As soon as I took a sip of water, I spit it out.
I glared at him, "What's in it? It doesn't taste normal..."
He sighed, "Too bad you aren't already unconscious as well... That would've made it way easier."
Tossing the water to the side, I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my head on my knees.
(Erza's POV)
"Erza, why are you so on edge?" Jellal asked.
"I'm not on edge; I'm just trying to get my job done," I retorted, not even turning to face him.
We were currently at FTBI, in the cafeteria. Asking Ultear questions didn't work much longer than five minutes because she eventually stopped answering. Levy, Lucy, Gajeel, Gray, Jellal, Mira, and I were sitting at a table in the far corner of the room.
Levy was on her computer trying to track Meredy's phone, Gajeel was on one side of Levy watching what she was doing, and I was on the other side of Levy watching what she was doing, as well. Meanwhile, Jellal was to my right trying to talk to me. Lucy and Mira were talking in hushed voices about something, and that left Gray to listen to everything that was going on.
"You yelled at Natsu threes times already," Jellal pointed out, "because he apparently wasn't doing enough even though he did everything you told him to..."
"W-well he's Natsu. It's not right if I don't yell at him about something," I came up with an excuse.
Jellal sighed, "I know, but you've never been this hard on him."
Rather than responding, I tried to focus on whatever Levy was doing. I heard Jellal sigh, and Gray started talking to him. Apparently Gray talking to Jellal was just like Jellal trying to talk to me; it was nearly impossible to talk to Jellal at the moment. He wasn't willing to talk to anyone until he got an answer as to why I was being really moody.
After about fifteen minutes of not being bugged by Jellal, he nudged my arm, which caught my attention but not my full attention. I only briefly glanced at him then looked back to Levy.
"Erza," Jellal started.
I sighed and turned to him, "Fine, I'll talk to you... But can we go talk somewhere else?"
Jellal nodded, and we walked to the other end of the cafeteria, where almost nobody was sitting.
"Why are you so tense about this? I mean, I know you're worried about Meredy, I am too, but you've been... Well, not your usual self," Jellal spoke quickly, so I couldn't get a chance to ignore him.
"W-well," I looked to my feet, trying to find the right words. Eventually, I sighed, "I wasn't completely honest with you-"
Jellal's phone rang, and he gave me an apologetic look then looked at his phone.
"Oh crap... Director Makarov wants to see me as soon as possible..." Jellal hesitated, "Sorry could you hold that thought for a few minutes?"
I frowned but quickly forced a smile, "Yeah, we can talk later."
He gave me a wary look just before leaving the cafeteria.
"Erza, where'd Jellal go?" Levy asked loudly, excitement in her voice.
"Uh... To go talk to Director Makarov, why?" I responded hesitantly.
"No reason," she looked back to her computer and closed out of something as I walked over to them.
I shook my head, "Any luck on finding Meredy?"
"No, it's almost the same thing that happened to you..." she kept talking, but I wasn't listening anymore. My mind was focussed on the starting words she said. It would be terrible if it were close to being completely like what happened to me. Absolutely terrible.
Out of instinct, I wanted to harm myself again, but I had promised Jellal that I wouldn't; I planned to keep it that way. There was no way I'd consciously allow myself to break that promise. Although, a part of me wished that I hadn't made that promise.
My mind ran back to when he had first found out I cut myself and his angered voice when I had nonchalantly brushed off the fact of me harming myself. Then I remembered the hurt in his voice when I gave him a second chance to talk to me. I had wondered how it even affected him, but I'm starting to understand now; I just need to understand a bit more.
"Erza?" I just barely heard Mira's voice.
"Erza," Lucy was a bit louder than Mira.
"Hey Erza," Natsu put his hand on my shoulder, and when I flinched, I accidentally hit his stomach. His hand disappeared from my shoulder as he clutched his stomach.
"Sorry Natsu!" I exclaimed, "You startled me!"
"Yeah, I can tell..." Natsu groaned, "By the way... Mira and Lucy were trying to talk to you."
I looked at the two girls, who were sitting at the opposite side of the table from where we were standing; they were currently trying to hold back laughs. Meanwhile, Happy was trying to get Lucy's attention.
"Um... Did you hear anything Levy just said?" Mira asked, still holding back a laugh.
"Like the first sentence," I mumbled.
Lucy sighed, "She basically said that it's almost like what happened with you; we can't find any trace of where she's been for the past few hours, which will probably become days. Now Levy's going to see if Ultear —being as protective over Meredy as she is— put some sort of tracking device on her."
"Oh..." I hesitated, "Well that's possible. I mean, Ultear taped a spare key to her house to Meredy's leg... Who knows what else she'd do?"
"Yeah," Mira nodded.
"Well, I'm going to my office to work on this," Levy stood up, holding her computer in one hand, "Gajeel, come with me; you could learn a thing or two."
Gajeel groaned but didn't say anything. Instead, he got up and followed Levy to her office.
"So what's Jellal and Director Makarov talking about?" Mira asked.
I shrugged, "I have no idea."
"So what did you find out when you went to the clinic?" Lucy asked. being nosy as usual.
"None of your business," I replied defensively, glaring at her.
"It's just a question..." Lucy mumbled.
"Well, it's a question I'm not going to answer," I retorted, folding my arms across my chest.
"Erza, we're just concerned for your health," Mira frowned.
"Well I'm fine," I snapped, "That is, if you don't count the fact that I had been drugged..."
"Okay so there's that," she frowned, "What are you hiding?"
I shifted uncomfortably, moving my arms to cover my stomach again.
"I'm not hiding anything," I lied.
"Really? You always change your posture when you're hiding something," Lucy stated.
"Do not," I argued, "Name one time."
"When you used to cut yourself," Lucy answered, "you would always have one hand on one of your wrists."
"Did not," I retorted.
"Yeah you did," Natsu took a step away from me.
"That, or you'd hide your arms behind your back," Lucy added.
"W-well I'm not hiding anything this time, so mind your own business," I muttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Er-" Mira started.
"I'm going to go find Jellal," I interrupted, "See you later."
Without waiting for a response, I turned around and quickly walked to the stairs. I looked down at the ground, keeping my attention on the ground in front of me. Both of my arms were folded across my stomach, even though I tried not to have my arms there. On the way down, I literally ran into Jellal.
I lightly laughed, "Sorry."
Jellal smiled, "What's the hurry?"
"Avoiding Lucy and Mira's curiosity," I answered simply.
He chuckled, "Do you want to finally go home?"
"Yes, but what do you mean by finally?" I answered.
"We were able to go home an hour ago..." Jellal stated.
"Right... Well let's go now," I smiled.
Jellal turned around, and we walked downstairs. When we got to the main floor, we were stopped by Evergreen.
"Tell Levy you'll talk to her tomorrow, otherwise she'll keep bugging me," she glared at Jellal.
"What did I do?" Jellal asked innocently.
Evergreen just shrugged and went back to working on whatever she was working on. I looked to Jellal questioningly, but he was lost in thought. Rather than waiting for him to come back to reality, I tugged on his arm and started half dragging him to the doors.
"Jellal... I can't drag you and keep the door open, so unless you want the door shut on your face..." I started to step away from the door, still tugging on his arm.
"Oops..." I mumbled as the door shut on him.
"Ow," Jellal groaned as I held back a laugh.
After apologizing to Jellal a few times and him telling me I didn't need to apologize because it was his fault for being lost in thought, we walked to the car and drove home. The car ride home was silent; we were both thinking about something. Once we got home and were in the house, we finally spoke.
"I have something important to tell you!" we both blurted at once.
Cliffhanger! Muahahahaha! Don't you just love my cliffhangers? XD
Anyways, sorry about not having Erza be missing for at least one full chapter, but it's kind of hard to write about someone being unconscious for a week. Well, thats it for now; have a nice day! Please leave a review!