Chapter 14
"Okay, Jellal, what do you have to say?" Lucy motioned for the blue-haired man to start his speech but the man in question is currently unavailable. She looked at him and certainly she saw something she didn't expect she'd discover. She traced Jellal's gaze towards her but not entirely her but her, nonetheless. It's her ample bosom that is sticking out from the see-through nightdress she is currently wearing.
She turned around and wrapped her arms around her in a failed attempt to cover what supposed to be covered, not even caring to her bandaged arm. Hello, female here. Where's that bra when you need it? And who on Earthland dressed her in such, for her standards, revealing clothing? She didn't know and she doesn't want to guess lest that person wants a whole body whip massage.
Seeing as the blonde was beyond embarrassed and was Erza Red, (Yes, Erza Red is surprisingly a new and trendy color these days.) noticed his blatant and obvious display of ogling, Jellal, mustering all the gentlemanly spirit that resides within his masculine body and this plane of existence, turned around and furiously tried to erase his growing blush.
'Indeed, Lucy Heartfilia is one hell of a rockin' chick.' As a man, he most certainly can attest to that. Now, he knows why Laxus goes bananas and nuts whenever this girl gets within a 500-kilometer radius of any man.
Okay, 500 kilometers is clearly an overstatement. He shrugged it off and contented himself with the thought that,
'Must be a Dragon Slayer thing.'
"W-w-wha-a-attt a-ag-ga-i-nnnn?" Lucy stumbled in her own words. Why does this always happen to her? Is her life a one big manga and she's the cosplayer? No, she doesn't want an answer to that because as of the moment, she's desperately trying to cling to every possible fabric that is within her domain. Finding no other article of clothing in the bed, she just went for the bed sheets. When all of the sheets are secured to her somehow exposed body, she sighed in relief. Thank God to whoever invented sheets and blanket!
"Can I turn back now?" Jellal asked while still covering his eyes with both of his hands.
"Y-yeah." She answered weakly. The man reluctantly and slowly turned around and to his internal surprise, he's disappointed. He preferred the naked version. He felt something warm sliding down his nostrils in which, with his genius intellect, concluded that it's blood. He quickly took out his handy dandy handkerchief and dabbed it in his nose just as that traitorous liquid escaped and blurt to the whole world that he's a closet pervert.
'Okay, Jellal, you should reassess your goals and think about the universe.' He mentally chastised himself for being a two-timing bastard. He loves Erza and not Lucy. Erza. Repeat that again. Erza. Sure, Lucy's a sight to behold; beautiful, smart, freaking sexy, endowed, powerful and gentle but she still doesn't hold a candle against Erza. For him, Erza is more. And that's enough for him. Their night of passion proved that. How can Erza be jealous of Lucy? Can't she just realize that Lucy is only a friend to him despite the blonde's raging and oozing amount of sex appeal and innocence? He can't understand that. Not at all. And another thing that boggled him to no end is the fact that this innocent angel in front of him managed to fall for a ruthless devil such as Laxus. What magic or potion did Laxus concoct to corrupt this purity? He didn't know and didn't want to know.
'Fairy Tail really is a weird guild.' He sweat dropped despite his sudden epiphany. And to top it all, he's a member of the weird guild. The scarlet stamp on the back of his right shoulder blade is a proof of that fact.
"Uh, Earthland to Jellal." Lucy is snapping her fingers in the man's face to pull him back into reality.
"Uh, sorry about that. Are you…" He trailed off, disoriented on the sudden change of mindset.
"…well dressed?" She finished for him. "Dressed, but not well." She managed a small laugh. Who wouldn't? The sheets are clinging to her like a garbage bag. It didn't even accentuate her figure but it would have to suffice.
"Good. Now where shall I start?" He shifted his gears back into business mode. Laxus might suddenly barge in here like Rambo and zap him senseless, literally. Better make this quick.
"Start from the very beginning." She suggested. She too took the business mode, thankfully.
"There are actually two reasons why I joined Fairy Tail." He paused and looked at the girl. She was silently listening, gesturing for him to continue. "One is, well, Erza." He heard a muffled squeal but didn't pay it much attention. "The other is you."
"Why?"
"Remember when I said that 'I need you'?" Lucy nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, the one that caused a rumble right after I got engaged." She replied, sarcastic. One…Two…three…It took him a good, solid, three seconds before he realized everything. Right this moment, this very second, Jellal understood his stupidity. Erza wouldn't be jealous and Laxus wouldn't be a raging bull if it wasn't for his own wrong usage of words. He sweat dropped.
'This is all my fault.' He mentally face palmed.
"Yeah, that one." He said awkwardly but keeping his calm, he once again resumed the important issue that needs to be discussed because he may never have the chance again, considering Laxus literally guards her like K-9 unit. "I have felt a something in the flow of the Magic inside me when you used your powers five months ago." He fixed his gaze into her eyes.
"You mean the S-Class Exam?" She inquired.
"Yes. When you battled Mnemosyne, to be exact." Lucy didn't know but a shiver ran down her spine. Remembering that man who almost got her killed made every fiber in her body boil in anger.
"Mnemosyne…" She cursed under her breathe.
"In my three years of serving my punishment, I have also researched a lot about my own Magic and there's one particular thing that piqued my interest. And it's Celestial Spirit Magic." He paused again, letting the information sink in.
"Wait, what is your Magic, by the way?" After all these years of having the same friends, never has she known his type of Magic. She really needed to keep up with her research.
"Oh, that would be Heavenly Body Magic." He said in a matter-of-factly tone.
"And why would my Magic have a connection to yours?"
"Remember when you used that key to summon a Spirit?" Jellal pointed to the key pendant that is carefully resting on Lucy's collarbones. Up to this day, Laxus' gift still amazed her to no end. From a rose-colored hue, it morphs into the colors of the rainbow. Truly fascinating.
"Yeah." She answered, puzzled on what this man is trying to say.
"And not a thing appeared?" The man pressed on. Lucy just nodded, retrieving her memory of that particular time.
"W-well, the Dragon Slayers achieved their Dragon Force." She managed.
"Yes but was there an actual Spirit?"
"No."
"But you felt something? Some sort of feeling?" He urged for her to remember the details.
"Warmth."
"I felt that too. The warmth inside my body." He smiled, lost in his own thoughts.
"Okay, I'm still confused here. Can't you just get straight to the point?" She really didn't know where this line of conversation will lead to.
"That warmth denotes something. It denotes life, a soul. A spirit. But the thing is, the reason it doesn't have an appearance is because it has no vessel. No body." He simplified his whole complex research into a single statement. Thank you very much.
"Then if it is, in fact a spirit why didn't anyone saw it or at the very least, me? I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage. I could have at least seen it." She challenged.
"It's because it's still incomplete." God, Jellal was growing tired of all this explaining. What is it with women and their need for the minute of details? Can't they just trust?
"Celestial Spirit Magic…Heavenly Body Magic…Spirit…Body…Now that you've mentioned it, it does make a pretty good sense." She pointed out. A body needs a spirit to survive and a spirit needs a body to be able to function. She looked up at him, understanding finally plastered in her features but there's still a question left to be said. "How can we make that Spirit appear?"
"Easy. Unison Raid. It's a combination of different kinds of Magic, right?" He leaned back in the wooden chair, put his hands behind his head to support it and crossed his legs.
"Unison Raid? Easy?" Last time she checked in the textbooks and what mages are saying, it wasn't.
"I guess. I mean, I've heard stories of you performing it so casually and if my memory serves me right, you're the first person I've ever encountered doing one with Juvia and that was a decade ago back in the good ol' Tower of Heaven days." He grinned at the memory. "So whad'ya say?" He leaned back at her, clasping his hands together.
"I-I-I d-don't k-know…" Just a moment ago, she was fine but then everything became so hazy and her body starts burning up. This sensation…it's all too familiar. She's feeling weak again.
"Lucy?" Jellal stood up and walked towards her but just as he could reach her, she slumped back on the bed, unconscious.
"Lucy?!" He panicked. "Laxus! Erza! Master!" He shouted.
A/N: Hello everyone! I am back from my busy schedule. Thank you for all the support you people gave to me even though the story's not as well received as ASVTT. But let me just take this one moment to offer this work of literature to a great man, to my professor who passed away on the first of September. Thank you, sir for all the things you've taught to us but most of all, the stories you have told in our classes. That boosted our morale to continue and be confident in the future. We'll surely miss you! :)
