The Fallout 7

Rose

Jellal sighed in his current state. It was shameful and he felt tired. How was he so careless? He hung his head and waited for his captor to return.

"Are you alright?" a kind voice asked. She had striking red hair and warm eyes, but looks could deceive. This woman was a powerful demon and was part of Zeref's personal guards.

"Of course, well, as well as I could be chained up to a wall," Jellal said with a false sweetness.

"I apologize for that, Gajeel was rather excited," Erza bowed and went to undo Jellal's bindings.

"Very," Jellal agreed.

"Now, why are you here?" Erza asked as the two walked out of the prison.

"I am here to ask for an item," Jellal said, "There is a slight worry in Heaven and we require a set of your magic shackles," Jellal explained.

"And why do you need them?" Erza demanded.

"I'm not sure, this was the only information told," Jellal lied. The shackles were for Wendy, though Levy would alter them so that they only suppressed magic. He had been on his way on orders from their king to ask for them, when Erza caught him and chained him up in the prison.

"Then why don't we trade? You get me something I want and I will give you something you want," Erza suggested.

"And what is it you wish for?" Jellal inquired.

"A red rose from the Garden of Eden," Erza said with sparkling eyes.

"Very well, in exchange, I will receive the magic shackles, correct?" Jellal confirmed.

"Of course, I don't break my word," Erza bowed. She and Jellal reached a portal to the mortal world.

Jellal bowed back and stepped into the portal. He couldn't help but grin, after all Erza was a strange demon. She was courteous; she had strong morals and was rather polite as well. She was interesting.

"So how come you didn't get the needles again?" Mira asked from her spot at the bar. She grabbed another mug from the sink and started to dry it with her towel.

"Erza-san's needles had Natsu-san's blood on them, and Gajeel-kun wouldn't really appreciate that," Juvia slumped down onto the bar counter.

"Oh my," Mira said, though a slight smile crawled onto her face for a bit. She could only imagine exactly what Natsu had done to piss of Erza when she was holding needles.

"What should Juvia do now?" Juvia looked to Mira with hopeful eyes.

"Well, we could always get him the real thing..." Mira drawled, giggling.

"Ah! You are right Mira-san! Juvia can use her water to catch a shrimp!" Juvia clasped her hands together and nodded excitedly.

"Oh no, we'll need lot's more than that," Mira said with an evil glint in her eye. She put down the mug she was drying and made way for the counter exit.

"But you cannot...well, do anything, can you?" Juvia said as politely as possible. Nobody quite knew what happened, but at some point when collecting souls, Mira lost her ability to fight. People thought that someone placed a curse on her, while others believed that something from her mortal life struck her. After, Laxus, Fairy Tail's master, took pity on her-the Raijinshuu tribe said that it was because he fancied her-and designated her as their bar tender.

"I can still do a few things, don't worry, our plan will be flawless!" Mira smiled. "Laki!" Mira cried, a lilac haired girl turned her head, she was currently experimenting with new wooden torture devices. "Can you cover for me? We'll be back in a bit, remember, no threatening the customers!"

Juvia shuddered at that. The last time Laki took care of the bar, Mira came back to half of the guild in handcuffs and dodging wooden spikes.

"Alright, so, first we need to have Gajeel in that spot," Mira instructed, she handed Juvia a letter and told her to put it in Gajeel's house. Mira on the other hand, was going to get the shrimp to that spot as well.

"So you didn't get them?" a sweet voice asked.

"Not yet Meredy," Jellal answered. He decided to not tell anyone about the rose that he required. They would look at him with disdain, even though this was for the best. Luckily, she didn't ask for the exotic heavenly flowers, but that was probably because they wouldn't survive in Hell.

"So, the exam is in a few days, say did your friend know me?" Meredy asked again. Jellal was friends with Meredy and they met through a shared one. Though, their shared friend was out on a secret mission, she left Meredy a note and told them to be careful. Angel's were always careful, so Meredy disregarded that warning, but Jellal was concerned as to what she meant by that, did she know something that the other angel's didn't?

"Jellal?" Meredy pressed.

"Oh, yeah. He remembered you, but not much. He knew your name started with an M and that was about it," Jellal shrugged. He and Meredy flew in silence to the palace courtyard.

"Well, I have to go train for the exam, I want to make Ul proud!" Meredy waved to Jellal, flying off.

"You know she wouldn't like it if you called her that," Jellal said, but Meredy was already gone. Jellal sighed and veered right from the doors of the palace entrance. Grand gates stood in front of him, they were made of iron and had statues of angels around it. Gently pushing on the doors, Jellal let himself into the Garden of Eden.

The garden was a public place and some people were put on duty to tend to the plants grown. Though, few had the time to come for leisure. It was grand, as big as a mortal mall. Plants, trees and beautiful lakes stretched as far as the eye could see. Taking flowers was sometimes legal, but there were certain rules. Exotic, and rare flowers were not to be taken, and you couldn't take a lot at once. About three angel's were working in the large garden, one of which Jellal recognized.

"Good day, Jura-san," Jellal bowed his head to the burly angel.

"Jellal-kun, what brings you here?" Jura nodded in respect.

"I would like to have a rose," Jellal said calmly. The corner of Jura's mouth twitched, as he told Jellal to wait for him to fetch a rose. Jellal watched as Jura plucked a rose from a bush, and walked over to a shed. After a minute or two, Jura emerged from the shed, the rose was neatly wrapped in paper and a small bow.

"And may I ask, what the occasion is for this lovely red rose?" Jura smiled as he handed Jellal the rose.

"Nothing very special," Jellal turned and began to fly towards the gates.

"Shame, I thought it was for a girl, well romance amongst angels isn't really common, because that form of love can bring impurity. Though, it would be nice if it was for someone special," Jura caught up to Jellal and flew beside him.

"I suppose it is," Jellal let out a slight chuckle. Jura was right, romantic feelings often brought upon jealousy and if someone wasn't faithful enough, they would most certainly be creating impurity. In fact, lust was commonly mistaken for love. True love was rare and so seldom was romance in Heaven. The angels didn't want their hearts broken, their loyalty destroyed and their being impure.

"Then she must be a very lucky person that you acknowledge," Jura opened the gates for Jellal and waved him goodbye.

"Now, Erigor, you'll send him off, won't you?" Alegria beckoned to a man carrying a scythe. Erigor bowed and grinned as he stalked up to Romeo. Romeo had tears in his eyes, he was physically and mentally tired. His vision was blurry and his voice hoarse from yelling.

He slowly opened his eyes to see a cat-like woman looking over him with sorrow. Anger welled up inside, why should she be sorry? She was part of them, and she was supporting whatever was happening. How could someone in a group as cold as this, possibly have sympathy?

The cloaked man touched the lacrima again. Pain seared throughout his body, the cuts and bruises burned. Underneath, cold air surrounded him. He saw a blinding light, then all the pain disappeared, he landed somewhere with a light thump.

Romeo forced himself to sit up. He looked to see that he was in the Mortal Realm, but they couldn't see him still. He sat there for a bit, noticing how pale he was and how weak he felt.

Standing up, Romeo saw her. He noticed that he must've been the same height as her, but how was that possible? Romeo checked his legs to ensure that they didn't replace them with some monster legs, though Romeo's legs looked as normal as could be.

"Romeo-kun?" Wendy came up to him bearing curious eyes. Romeo noticed that he was taller than her, just by a few inches.

"Wendy-nee," Romeo responded, though his voice cracked bit. He coughed a little, causing Wendy to look a little worried.

"What happened?" Wendy asked, "Did someone cast a glamour spell on you?"

Romeo looked at himself, he noticed that his arms had small muscles. His arms and legs felt longer and he was taller than Wendy. He held out his hand to call on the flame and a purple flame burst in his hand. Romeo forced it foreword and the flame moved swiftly from the palm of his hand to move around aimlessly. Did his power increase as well?

"Wendy-nee..." Romeo said again. His voice was a little deeper than he remembered.

Wendy blushed a little, "It feels weird for you to call me that, being that you're taller and older looking..."

"Of course, Wendy-san," Romeo grinned.

"So do you know what happened?" Wendy asked, inspecting him.

"Not really..." Romeo rubbed his arm awkwardly. Wendy followed his hand and noticed bruises and small cuts on him arm. His legs and torso-covered by a vest-also bore bruises and cuts alike.

"You're hurt, here let me help you," Wendy rushed to his side and began to heal him.

"Is that you? Romeo?" a voice called from the left. Romeo turned to see Natsu running towards him.

"Natsu-nii!" Romeo called.

"Woah what happened?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not sure," Wendy answered for him, "But there are cuts and bruises on him, his stomach is the worst."

Natsu's eyes sharpened, and smoke seemed to rise from his skin, "Did someone hurt you?" he seethed.

"W-well..." Romeo went on to explain as much as he could. The capture, the strange people, the lacrima, the pain, the cutting. Wendy looked horrified and Natsu punched the ground a few times.

"And you ended up like this?" Wendy inquired.

"So it seems," Romeo responded.

Wendy thought about it for a while, "I suppose the lacrima somehow changed you and it must've been very painful."

"It was," Romeo admitted.

"Maybe someone at the guild knows about it, let's go back. Wendy, thank you for healing him," Natsu grabbed Romeo's hand and rushed back to the nearest portal.

Juvia quickly flew out of Gajeel's house. Lily had caught her sneaking around, but once she explained he gave her a thumbs up and even showed her to his iron stash.

She and Mira agreed to meet near a cliff over the ocean where you could see the sunset. Mira claimed that the shrimp flocked to that spot and so they agreed the meet.

Juvia used water as her power. She dove into a flowing river and her body turned to liquid, allowing her to move even faster than flying. She swam playfully around the fish in the river and jumped up as if she was a wave. She was swimming so freely that she didn't notice the ice ahead of her. Juvia slammed into a wall of ice and turned back to a girl.

Clambering onto the ice Juvia shook her head and sat herself on the block of ice.

"Are you okay?" a deep voice asked. Juvia looked up to see an attractive shirtless man holding out his hand to help her up.

"Y-yes," Juvia mumbled. She was mesmerized by the attractive male who seemed to have a faint smirk on his face. His angelic features only complimented his beauty and Juvia felt her knees go weak.

"Oi you icy bastard! Don't stop in the middle of the fight!" another voice called. Another man collided with the beautiful man and the two started throwing punches at each other, rolling around on the ice.

"Get off me fire breath! Just because you're angry, don't play dirty" Juvia's prince called. The pink haired male punched him with extra gusto after that.

"Ah! Juvia's very own prince charming is having hot boy love with a demon, and yet, it is forbidden! Juvia's prince is having forbidden boy love!" Juvia exclaimed.

"What the fu-"

"We are not!" the pink haired man shouted, cutting off Juvia's prince and standing up.

"Juvia saw it with her own eyes!" Juvia argued.

"Ugh! I totally won that," the pink haired demon spat and flew off.

"Sure you did," Juvia's prince rolled his eyes and turned towards her.

"Juvia is sorry if she caused you to lose," Juvia bowed.

"Nah, we fight all the time, not as much as Lucy-"

"Love rival!" Juvia raged, her eyes wide and waves growing in size behind her.

"Not with me! With Natsu," he sighed "Anyways, I'm guessing your name is Juvia, since you've said it referring to yourself."

"Yes! Juvia's prince is handsome, strong and smart!" Juvia smiled.

"Yeah, thanks I guess. Well I'm Gray," he held out his hand to shake.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia flung herself at his, letting herself feel his bare skin due to his lack of clothing.

"Guh!" Gray let out a low groan as the girl caused him to stumble back. He flushed as the woman pushed her chest against him and snuggled into him arms.

"I-I've gotta go," Gray said, slipping out of Juvia's grip, "I'm sure you do too."

"Ah! Yes! Juvia forgot about the grand plan! Gray-sama, please take care!" Juvia waved to Gray and sped down the rest of the river that wasn't covered in ice.

Jellal was confused to see that a rose was already sitting where he and Erza were meeting-a spot just outside of a portal to Hell.

There were no shackles and Jellal was ten minutes early, so Erza must have not arrived yet.

Jellal carefully picked up the rose, but immediately regretted it. His mind saw men, taller than him, standing over him with bats. Screams and cried reverberated in his mind. He smelt blood and his throat hurt as if he was screaming too. His legs seemed sore and his hand was hot as if he was holding something. Turning his head to where his hand was he saw a flash of red, but the scene disappeared and the rose in his hand turned to dust.

Jellal was only left with a headache and questions that needed to be answered.

"Have you been waiting long?" Erza's voice thundered over the thoughts in his head.

"No, have you brought the shackles?" Jellal asked. Though, in her right hand were shackles.

"Yes, and you the rose?" Jellal held out the rose and Erza swapped it for the shackles.

"It's very beautiful. Our king is holding a grand ball and our guild was invited. I wanted to make my outfit stand out a bit and-" Erza stopped her ramble, "Are you alright? You look as if you just saw a ghost," she tilted her head to the side.

"I'm fine, I assure you," Jellal said calmly.

"Well, it's been a pleasure Jellal," Erza shook his hand and left, her scarlet locks flowing behind her. Jellal could've sworn that her hand was the very one he was holding in the dream and the red that he saw wasn't blood, but her hair.

Romeo sat awkwardly as people in the guild talked around him. His father came and squeezed him into a hug, and realized that he grew. Natsu let him settle in and quickly left. Romeo retold his story to everyone in the guild and arguments sparked up. Erza concluded that the lacrima must have increased his aging process somehow, that included his magic abilities as well. Of course it came with the price of bruises, cuts and scars.

"And finally, what did the lacrima look like?" the man with the red hat asked. Gajeel went over to Sabertooth for help. Two people from their guild came over to help, Rufus and Minerva.

"Uh, well it was a blue, almost clear, ball I guess," Romeo said quickly.

"In my memory, I've only seen one matching lacrima, it was carried by a woman who went missing a while ago," Rufus tipped his hat lower. "Ultear, an angel that used time as her ability. I remember she went on a mission to go back in time to make peace in a war."

"But, if she was an angel why would she join dark forces?" Macao asked.

"She was likely captured and they took that from her, they probably forced her to use her power to make the lacrima usable on others." Rufus decided.

"Of course, powerful magic like that comes at a price," Minerva chipped in. "I've heard that too much strain on the body at once with time magic can increase the aging process of the user."

"Should we tell the angels?" Erza suggested.

"No, they probably already knew about Ultear anyways. Though, maybe we should tell them about Romeo," Laxus said for the first time in the conversation.

The-newly fixed-doors burst open and Natsu flew in, flames licking his skin.

"Natsu-nii!" Romeo called. Erza filled Natsu in on what they knew and gave him a drink before he burned down the whole building.

"The angels? One of them already knows, she was there. She'll probably tell others," Natsu pointed out.

"But why would this happen?" Cana asked worriedly.

"I don't fucking know! All you of you should know that us demons-we can die! So can the angels. Maybe not by aging, but in battle, there's still a possibility that we can die!" Natsu burst. Everyone mumbled in agreement.

"It must be a warning," Laxus spoke up, "Those people, whoever they are, are warning us," he realized, "They're going to go after us. Nobody be alone, ever. Always be on your guard. Warn the other guilds!" Laxus shouted.

"And tell King Zeref!" Erza added.

Nobody noticed the small white cat slip away and into the Mortal Realm.

"Are you sure we should've done that? He won't be happy," a muffled voice asked into his lacrima.

"Mystogan, it's fine. His memories elicits the same symptoms as the poison should. Alegria won't be keeping tabs on him," a sweet but strict voice responded.

"Shagotte we're not really on his side, right?" Mystogan said innocently.

"No," Shagotte answered.

"But what about the blood tie?" Mystogan pressed.

"The *improbus sponsio? I left a loophole in it. I agreed to help him in his plans, but in return he wouldn't harm those that are special to me. Of course he doesn't know who those special people are," Shagotte grinned, "Do you remember the exceeds?"

"Of course," Mystogan nodded, "They are a race you created when you were younger because you were lonely. Depending on who they deem their best friend, their wings will change, but they will always have a pure heart."

"And they are my special ones. Not only that, but four of the six dragon slayers have an exceed as their friend. Of course, one doesn't know it," Shagotte held up a blue and white ball of light.

"So if he hurts them, the blood tie will be broken on his side and with that, you can control when he dies, despite him being a god," Mystogan concluded.

"Yes, now. You will go down and attract the fifth dragon slayer. Alegria's plan is working, heat spells have started to sprout," Shagotte sighed. "Alegria wants a planned attack on Fairy Tail, you'll wipe out all of the enemies and gain even more respect and trust," Shagotte read from a paper an underling had brought her.

"Yes," Mystogan stuffed the lacrima into his pocket and fixed his mask.

It would be an understatement to say that Natsu was angry. With all the crap going on, he tried to fight with Gray to ease his anger, but Gray read him like a book. Not only that, but the crazy water woman said some weird stuff about him which only made him even more mad.

He and Gray had a strong rivalry, almost as strong as his and Lucy's.

Speaking of Lucy, Natsu spotted her flying around looking for souls. His eyes flared and he readied his fist. Charging towards her, Natsu screamed her name. He was going into a fight with no apparent reason, it wasn't very common this would happen. Usually angels and demons would fight over souls, but remain passive when not.

Lucy's eyes widened but stars appeared in front of her and Loke appeared. He created a blinding light to hinder Natsu and cooly pushed his sunglasses up.

"Where were you yesterday when I needed you? Virgo appeared in your place and said 'Nii-san is doing something right now' then left!" Lucy shrieked.

"Apologies my sweet," Loke grinned and went into the light to fight Natsu. She followed closely behind him, her whip ready. Natsu emerged in above of them, a large ball of fire above his head, he threw it down and flew down with it.

Lucy caught the tip of Natsu's tail and tied her whip around him. He was slowly breaking free, but Loke was taking care of getting the punches and kicks in. Eventually, Natsu had enough and burst from his binds, grabbing Loke and throwing him down, but instead of letting him fall, Natsu created a carpet of fire underneath him, burning Loke.

Loke disappeared and Natsu and Lucy were left on their own. Natsu charged at her, Lucy flew up, but didn't expect to see fire above her.

"Fire trap!" Natsu yelled, the dome of fire came crashing down on her, stopping her from dodging it.

Natsu breathed and looked in, after a bit he took away the fire and stalked up to her. Lighting his hands on fire, Natsu pinned Lucy's wrists to the ground.

"Say mercy," he said playfully.

"No," Lucy pouted back.

Natsu grinned and increase the pressure, "Say it."

"Nope," Lucy shook her head. Natsu growled and lowered his head towards hers, their foreheads touching.

"Are you sure?" he whispered hotly into her ear.

"Yes," Lucy breathed. Her heart was beating ridiculously fast. The fight didn't seem too intense, she had faced worse before.

Natsu sat up and laughed. Lucy looked at him strangely as he stood up, a toothy grin still plastered on his face.

"Here, you weirdo," Natsu held out a hand for Lucy. She gladly took it, but pouted a little.

"I'm not weird!" she flushed.

"Yes you are. Your heart was beating really fast, but I wasn't even hurting you! Weirdo," Natsu laughed again. It was true, Natsu's hold on her wrists hadn't hurt. Was he teasing her?

"That doesn't make me weird!" Lucy argued.

"Yeah it does. What sort of person's heart beats fast when nothing's happening to them? See? You're really weird," Natsu shook his head as if Lucy was a stupid child and didn't understand anything.

"Ugh," Lucy dusted off her angelic dress. She didn't notice Natsu sneak behind her, he grabbed her by the waist and breathed hot air over her ear.

"Unless," he whispered, "It was because of me."

Lucy jumped away and stared at him, blood rushing to her cheeks. Natsu laughed and slapped his knee, pointing a finger at her.

"You should've seen your face! Note to self, Lucy is a huge weirdo," Natsu teased.

"Oh, I give up!" Lucy threw her hands in the air and began to fly away, her cheeks a prominent shade of red and her heart beating as fast as ever.

*Improbus sponsio= Improbus is Latin for 'dishonest' and sponsio is Latin for 'promise'. Shagotte is making fun of the blood ties because, as the Goddess of Deceit, she knows their tricks.

I'm not too sure how this went, but hopefully well. Thanks for reading!