Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome back to "The ABCs of Natsu and Erza!" Today's letter is R for Resolve! More than that, it's the long-awaited conclusion to the Cheat trilogy!
I honestly struggled with this, considering I hadn't written for that storyline since last summer. I honestly don't like how this turned out, but considering my time away from it, I'm happy with it. Hopefully, it shows how I've evolved as a writer since then. I dunno, read it and judge for yourself.
I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. I own Faye Dragneel.
Random thought before we begin: I like Hiro Mashima's name. It takes something bad (Hiroshima) and sticks something good in the middle (Ma). Kind of like manure in a way. Of course, this only makes sense if you watch Seinfeld. Why am I even talking about this? Just read the damn chapter!
Natsu woke up to find that he was the only one in the bed. Not surprising, considering that Erza busied herself with the affairs of the guild as much as Makarov did, perhaps even more now that his age was starting to catch up to him. She was probably getting an early start, he reasoned.
The sound of crying had just reached his ears. Faye was up, and it appeared she was hungry. Still a little groggy, he trudged to Faye's room to collect and feed his daughter. He just prayed that they still had some of those mashed peas she liked. She was kind of going through that picky phase.
When he saw Faye, Natsu perked up immediately. Faye had the unique ability to make everything in Natsu's world right and perfect, if only for a little while. It was on this train of thought that he came back recent events.
Erza's childhood friend Jellal had finally been released from prison, and she had taken him out for dinner to celebrate the occasion. Natsu would have gone with them, but he had figured he would only say something stupid or insulting, or even attack the other man. Unfortunately, Erza had had a little too much to drink... one thing led to another, and she and Jellal...
It still hurt him to think about it.
But Natsu had quickly forgiven her when she had made clear her intentions to leave him, not because she had decided Jellal was better, but because she was so wracked with guilt at her betrayal that she couldn't bear to face him. Natsu had, of course, found that unacceptable, and had convinced her to stay.
For the last week, Erza had rebuffed Natsu's advances, and only last night did she make it clear that she still felt guilt over her night with Jellal. She had offered to allow him a night with Lisanna, but he had steadfastly rebuked all offers of revenge. Not only was he unsure how Bixlow would react – he and Lisanna currently had an on-again off-again thing going on – but Natsu was resolute in not seeking revenge on Erza or Jellal. He meant what he had said about staying with Erza for better or for worse, and was fairly positive that he would never have married her if he didn't intend to stay true to those vows.
Erza, to her credit, had done her best to avoid Jellal ever since the incident. In fact, she barely even showed up at the guild at all, preferring to spend time at home with Faye.
Wait. If Erza went to the guild today... what was the last thing he said to her last night?
"Shit!" he swore, dropping the jar of peas he was feeding Faye She was off to confront Jellal!
"Happy, watch Faye for a while!" ordered Natsu. "I'm going to the guild to stop Erza!"
"Stop Erza?" Happy repeated. "What's she gonna do?"
"You just worry about Faye!" yelled Natsu, rushing out the door, dressed in nothing but a nightshirt and sweatpants, leaving Happy just enough time to say "Aye!"
Happy looked at the spilled jar of peas on the floor. "I wonder how those taste?" He stuck his paw into the goop and licked. "Eurrrgh!" he exclaimed. At this point, Faye started to cry again.
Erza stood on a rooftop by the guild building in her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She was a fierce predator, and she was on the hunt.
Natsu's words had resonated deeply with her. He was totally right – she had never been one to shy away from a problem. Even confronted with the aftermath of her affair with Jellal, she had never once entertained the notion of being anything but forthright with him about it, never mind her own fear of the matter.
It was a matter of personal pride for her that she was confronting Jellal about it. She loved Natsu dearly, and she was proud to be the wife of such a strong, sensitive, understanding person like him. She had done wrong by him, and she was going to make it right in true Titania fashion.
In short, she was going to kick Jellal Fernandes's ass.
It bears repeating that Jellal was not at fault. Erza was the one who seduced him in a drunken state she knew it was a bad idea for her to be in, yet she thought she could control. Still, she reasoned, if she fought Jellal without any mercy (she wouldn't kill him, of course), she could put this whole ugly incident behind her and move on with her life.
Jellal came into Erza's view, and that was when the Titania chose to strike. She sent her swords raining down to intimidate Jellal, who, though caught off guard, managed to dodge the blades expertly. No wonder he was once hailed as one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
Erza leapt from the rooftop and landed gracefully in front of Jellal. "Jellal Fernandes!" Erza bellowed. "I have shamed myself by sinning against my husband with you! For the sake of my pride, and my own forgiveness, I challenge you to a duel!"
Jellal was still a little bit shaken, but his mind still managed to find reason in Erza's declaration. Natsu had forgiven him for lying with Erza, but it was very clear that Erza did not forgive him, or even herself, for it. And now she was challenging him so she could put her mind at ease about the matter.
"Choose your weapon!" Erza ordered. Jellal took a second look at the mess of weapons and saw that there were two of every type. He chose a longsword and showed it to Erza, who Requipped away all but its twin and summoned it to her hand.
By now, the commotion had attracted what little guild members had already arrived, but Erza didn't seem to care. "We begin on your mark!" said Erza, getting into a battle stance.
Jellal stared at Erza. Sure, he could just throw the duel, but Erza was no fool. If he did that, Erza wouldn't feel vindicated. He decided he at least owed her that much.
"MARK!" shouted Jellal. Erza lunged forward and struck, a blow which Jellal was only barely able to parry.
The battle was on!
Natsu arrived at the guild to see a crowd gathered around. Looking for an ally, he smiled when Lucy, Gray, and Cana waved him over. "What the hell's going on here?" he asked, trying not to sound frantic.
"Erza challenged Jellal to a duel," said Lucy. "She said something about sinning against you..."
"This is about as serious as I've seen Erza fight in a while" said Gray. "Whatever she did, she's really working to make it straight."
"What did Erza do, anyway?" asked Cana.
Natsu sighed. He knew he couldn't keep this monkey from his friends any longer. "Erza... cheated on me," he admitted. "With Jellal."
As Natsu explained the whole deal, the response was about what he'd expected. Cana had gasped in shock, Lucy was saying that it couldn't be true, and Gray... well, Gray just watched the fight, thinking of something to say.
Finally, the ice mage spoke. "So if I'm understanding everything right, then Erza's fighting Jellal to prove to herself that he doesn't have any more power over her," he said.
"Aye," said Natsu. "That sounds about right."
"Well, I say Erza's damn lucky to have you Natsu," said Cana. "She's doing her damndest to win your forgiveness, even when she's already got it."
"I don't think that's it, Cana," said Natsu. "Erza's fighting for the right to forgive herself."
"Huh? What does that even mean?" asked Lucy.
"Erza has a strong sense of pride," explained Natsu. "I still remember when she was teaching me how to read and write. She taught me how to spell the word convenience, and she spelled it V-I-N-E, which didn't really make sense to me, so I asked Gramps about it. Turns out Erza made a mistake and it was V-E-N-I. She refused to teach me any more for a week, calling herself a failure as a teacher. It took an intense training session in which we spelled convenience over the course of our exercises – you know, a letter for each push-up – before she regained the confidence to continue on with my lessons.
"Point is, once Erza makes a mistake, no matter how big or small, she'll sulk about it for a while, and then she'll do something crazy to make up for it." Natsu laughed. "That's the kind of resolve that made me fall in love with her."
Suddenly, Jellal flew towards the group, landing at Natsu's feet. Erza forced her way through seconds after, pointing her sword at Jellal's chest. Jellal held his hands up in submission. "Have you found what you were looking for?" he asked.
Erza looked from Jellal to Natsu. The Dragon Slayer gave her a shit-eating grin that made her face melt. How she loved that stupid smile. Since they were young, that smile made her feel as if everything in her world was good and right. She looked back to Jellal. "Yes," she said. "I have every confidence that I have."
"I'm glad, Erza," said Jellal. He reached out to hug Jellal, but she recoiled. "Too soon?" he asked.
"By at least a thousand years," said Erza dryly. Suddenly, a strong pair of arms wrapped around her, causing her to gasp. However, when she realized it was only Natsu, she let out a soft laugh.
"I really do love you, you know," Natsu whispered in her ear. "And I'll never give up on you, just as long as you never give up on me."
"Never, Honey Dragon," said Erza lovingly. The couple shared their first real kiss since Erza's affair, much to the delight of the gathered guild members.
And for the first time since that ugly incident, Erza felt at peace.
There! Nice to have that monkey off my back.
Speaking of monkeys on my back, I still need to write V before Valentine's Day, since, spoiler alert, I'm doing Valentine for V. S is pretty much done, I just need to close it out, I've had an idea for T for months now, and U... U is still up in the air, I'm thinking something along the lines of KnightwalkerxDragion, but I see it as being more mature than what I'm used to writing. I like to keep things happy and bright for the most part.
Check my profile before the day is done. I'll be talking about different ideas I have for once I write V. After that, I'm just gonna take my time on the last four letters, and hopefully, I can finish before the one-year anniversary of this story in May, which, assuming I post W in February too, will be a chapter a month, freeing me up for other projects.
And on the note of other projects, the characters you guys submitted for Lucky Star were amazing. Sadly, though, hardly any of them were what I'm looking for in terms of magic (though I will be basing one of my characters off of one of my earliest submissions and will be in contact with the creator to let him/her know).
That's it for now. So until the next chapter, peace and love from Nightlingbolt! Buh-bye.