Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does!
After spending the night in meditation, Jellal ended his ritual and faced towards the rising sun, basking in its warmth. He held out both hands in front of his body and willed his magic to form. A pale golden ball of energy materialized above both palms, flickering with each heartbeat. Jellal sighed ruefully as he thought, to think that a former Wizard Saint could have such an inordinately large amount of trouble trying to conjure some simple Fairy Lights.
Furrowing his brows, Jellal attempted to fuse the Fairy Lights into a single orb. Bringing his palms close to his chest, he clasped his fingers together and steepled his thumbs, concentrating on the erratically pulsing lights. As the minutes wore on, his forehead grew slightly damp and a vein bulged outward. After a quarter of an hour, Jellal finally tensed his fingers and telekinetically pushed the orbs through each other, binding them into a singular orb.
Gazing upon the now completed Fairy Lantern, Jellal grinned as he bounced it on his palm. Unfortunately, this moment was short-lived as the magic drain proved to be too prodigious for him to congratulate himself for more than a few seconds before his magic dwindled and the lantern abruptly winked out, its backlash knocking him to the ground. Shaking his head dazedly, he felt something warm sliding down his mouth. Touching his fingers to his lips and drawing them back to observe blood, he concluded that he had a nosebleed.
"Of all the.. I can't believe that I'm still this weak!" Jellal grumbled to himself.
Ripping a piece of cloth from the hem of his roughspun prisoner's tunic, he dabbed at his nose to soak up the blood. After checking to make sure that it had stopped bleeding, he stuffed the soiled scrap of cloth in his pocket and stood, trembling slightly. His stomach let out a loud rumble as he crossed his arms and leaned over. His stomach seemingly took offense to this, as it let an even louder growl.
"Apparently I need to eat something," He mused to himself, "I didn't think that the rules of male main figures applied to me!"
Shaking his head, Jellal uncrossed his arms and pushed himself into a standing position. Wavering considerably, he started to make his way towards Clover Town, stomach growling every couple of steps.
The first signs Jellal had of drawing closer to Clover Town were the sound and smell. A buzz of activity echoed through the outskirts of the forest as hammers smacked against recalcitrant wooden boards and various people tried to yell over the ruckus. The pungent smell of hewn spruce lingered along the forest line, with traces of pine flittering throughout. Jellal snuffled as a gust of wind caked his face with a thick layer of sawdust. Rubbing his nose, he stopped limping towards the town and finally sneezed, blowing half of the leaves off of a nearby bush. He stared at the leaves as they spiraled to the ground and sighed before continuing on.
The Guild Master's Hall, which Fairy Tail had inadvertently destroyed several months prior during a botched mission, was well under reconstruction. A pond surrounded the wooden frame of the main building and lapped at its stone foundation, lily pads pushing against each other as the breeze flowed across the water. Three towers branched off from the main building and spiraled towards the air, seemingly touching the sky. A rounded bridge of dark granite led right up to the entry hall and ended at its marble archway. Jellal took in the sight for a few minutes before stumbling over to the workman's tavern that lay a considerable distance down the road.
Upon pushing the slatted wood door open, Jellal found himself in a clean and softly lit common room, burgundy polished oak chairs and tables situated throughout it. A fireplace covered with a linen sheet dominated the left part of the room; while a set of stairs leading to the inn rooms were situated on the right side. The door to the kitchen was located behind the bar, or so Jellal assumed, since he could smell bread baking and hear the swift clatter of a knife against a cutting board coming through said door. The innkeeper stood behind the low bar, polishing several glass tankards with a relatively clean cloth. His eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing Jellal's threadbare clothes, thinking him a vagrant of some kind.
"Hello, good sir!" The innkeeper grunted. "My name is Suji and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Fairy Wing Tavern!"
Jellal blinked at this. The sign outside the tavern hadn't looked anything like a pair of wings!
Jellal replied, "Thank you for your welcome! My name is.. Sieg, and I recently escaped from the prison of a dark guild that is known as the Ebon Whisper. I was wondering if I would be able to assist you with things around the tavern in exchange for some food and new clothes."
Suji gave a start and set the tankard he had been cleaning down, throwing the cleaning rag over his shoulder. "By all the Council! Yes, sir, I can help you out in that regard! I too have been held captive in the past, and it isn't something that I would wish upon anybody else!" Holding up a hand to Jellal, he excused himself and made his way to the kitchen.
Jellal slumped onto a stool at the bar and absently traced the grain of the wood, losing himself in the whorls for a brief moment. He tensed as the kitchen door banged open and the innkeeper bustled out, holding a steaming tray of venison in one hand, a bowl of blue lettuce and orange tomatoes in the other, and a hunk of grain-dotted bread in the crook of his arm. Gliding over to where Jellal was sitting, he plunked the feast down in front of him.
Jellal's eyes widened as he stuttered, "B-but, this is too much food! I need to help you before I can accept any-.."
Suji's eyes flashed as he poked Jellal in the chest and stated quite plainly, but with an air of certainty, "Eat. Now. There will be time later for chatting."
Jellal bowed his head and mumbled, "Thank you," before digging into the food with a vengeance. The innkeeper clicked his tongue and continued to polish the tankards, glancing at Jellal every now and then to make sure that he was still eating. Grabbing a water lacrima hose, he touched the tip of it against one of the tankards and filled it up, setting the tankard next to Jellal, then went back to polishing the rest of the mugs.
By the time he finished cleaning the last tankard, raising it to eye level and critically observing if there were any smudges hidden on it, Jellal had finally scarfed down the last bit of his meal. Suji grinned as Jellal sighed in contentment and washed his meal down with the tankard of water. Gathering up the dishes, he excused himself again and took them into the kitchen to be cleaned. Jellal stretched upon the stool and stood up, finally feeling well enough to walk more than a few steps without passing out. He paced the length of the bar while he waited for the innkeeper to come back out.
After a few moments, Suji shouldered open the door and said, "Well, you look ten times better than you did when you walked in the door earlier, Sieg! I have a small task for you, if you wouldn't mind."
Jellal nodded and asked, "What do you require? I would be more than happy to help!"
Suji grinned and pointed at the fireplace. "Know anything about fixing fire lacrimas?"
A/N: Wow! It's been a long time since I've been able to write anything. I think that this chapter turned out fairly well, even though it's been... awhile since I last updated this story. I think I'm starting to remember where I was going with the plot, too! YAY!
In any case, thank you for being patient with me, kind reviewers/readers, whilst I continue to work on this story! (I'm going to start building up to longer chapters, methinks.)
It's currently 2:12 AM where I live and I have a final in less than five hours, so I'm going to get back to studying. I might write another chapter this week, too! Here's to hoping! =D