AN: All right, so, someone was angry about my portrayal of Jellal in the first chapter, but I think they missed the point. Jellal wasn't angry because Ultear stopped him from fighting – he understood why she did that, and he was grateful that she kept him from doing something stupid. He got upset because, rather than using telepathy, she instead used Merudy's Sensory Link to humiliate him. Even if she doesn't know telepathy, there were still other things she could have done, such as using Merudy's magic to knock him out and then claim he used his own magic too much. The problem wasn't that she stopped him; it was that she did it in a way that was very reminiscent of what she did to him as a child. I'm not sure where you got the idea that he was trying to hurt her – he was just upset. People say a lot of things they don't mean when upset, as any teenager can attest. To be honest, I thought Jellal was being an idiot for using his Heavenly Body Magic, and I was glad that Ultear stopped him, but I think she did it in a fairly nasty way. It was played for laughs in the series, but after everything Jellal's been through, having someone controlling your actions – or even your senses – is probably very distressing. I apologize if the meaning of his anger wasn't clear to you, but I do intend to have a lot more friendship moments between Jellal and Ultear, as they are two of my favorite characters in the series. Also, to the other guest, I do intend to fulfill your request, but that chapter just kind of needed to be written. I'll probably write a scene with Macbeth and Erik next chapter.
Story the Fourth: Formation
Merudy glanced between her foster mother and the man they had just broken out of prison. The two had been engaged in the world's most awkward staring contest for quite some time, neither really knowing what to say.
"Hi!" she piped up cheerfully. "I'm Merudy, and I just helped Ul break you out of prison!" Jellal looked at her.
"I didn't ask you to," he pointed out. "I went to prison willingly, so I think this qualifies as kidnapping."
"You're not a kid, though," Ultear said helpfully.
"I'm not," Jellal agreed. "I don't think I ever was, actually."
"Oh good, your memories are back," Ultear realized. "That'll make this a lot less awkward." Jellal looked at her suspiciously.
"I no longer have interested in reviving Zeref," he stated.
"That's okay, we don't either," Merudy told him. "Actually, we broke you out because Ul felt bad about the whole Tower thing. Also, Zeref isn't dead."
"I… beg your pardon?" Jellal stared at her. "If he wasn't dead, why build the Tower in the first place? How did he possess me?"
"He didn't," Ultear explained. "You weren't possessed at all, really. I just brainwashed you back when you were being tortured for saving Erza. So I'm basically responsible for everything you did."
"That doesn't really explain much," Jellal said. "Why are you even telling me all this?" Ultear looked away.
"The world is such a strange place," she murmured to herself. Shaking her head, she met his eyes again. "Because I'm sorry. I understand if you hate me and want to kill me, but I couldn't just let you rot in prison for my crimes."
"Ul!" Merudy yelped. "You never said you'd let him kill you!"
"I don't want to kill anyone," Jellal said dully. "Just send me back to prison. I deserve it. Even if you were behind my actions, I was still weak enough to do the things I did. I hurt Erza so much…"
"I don't get it," Merudy said. She squatted down to look the tired prison escapee/kidnapping victim in the eyes. "If Ul's responsible for what happened to you, what are you doing blaming yourself?"
"I killed Simon," Jellal stared off into the distance as he spoke. "I hurt Erza and the others. Even if I was forced to do it, it doesn't change the fact that it was me." Merudy blinked.
"Your logic does not resemble our Earth Land logic," she told him.
"Regardless of who's at fault, sitting in prison isn't helping anyone." Ultear said. "With Fairy Tail gone–"
"I'm sorry, what?" Jellal leapt to his feet, and then nearly fell over (he wasn't really used to using his legs yet). "What do you mean 'with Fairy Tail gone'? Where'd they go?" Merudy and Ultear shifted uncomfortably.
"They were on Tenrou Island for the S-Class Exam," Merudy said, as gently as she could. "The dragon Acnologia came and destroyed the island. The guild itself is still around, but Erza and Natsu and Juvia and Gray and the others… they're all gone." Jellal sat back down, his face blank.
"Gone…" he rasped.
"Grimoire Heart was there to find Zeref," Ultear explained. "Merudy and I barely got away. We left the guild. That was about a year ago. I thought someone would have told you." Jellal gave an uncharacteristic snort.
"Who?" He asked bitterly. "The Council? Yeah, I know how much they love me." Ultear sighed.
"Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "Still…" she trailed off as she watched Jellal bury his face in his hands.
"Erza…" Merudy looked nervously at Ultear. The thirteen year old was aware that her mother had done some… less than pleasant things, but this… from what she'd heard about Jellal before he was brainwashed, he'd been confident, cheerful, brave, and always willing to be a support pillar for those around him. This man in front of her, however, looked like he was three seconds away from killing himself.
"I think Erza was really strong!" Merudy said suddenly. Ultear gave her a warning look, but Merudy continued. "I didn't really fight her, but she went up against Azuma, and he was unbelievable. Plus, Gray beat Ul, and Erza's even stronger than him! If Erza were here now, what do you think she'd say?"
"I don't think–" Ultear began, but Jellal cut her off.
"She'd probably ask what you were thinking when you kidnapped me," he said flatly. Ultear frowned.
"We rescued you."
"Kidnapped."
"Rescued."
"Kidnapped."
"Rescued!"
"Kidnapped!"
"Puppies!" Merudy interjected brightly. The older two looked at her like she'd lost her mind.
"Excuse you?" Jellal said.
"Puppies." Merudy said decisively. "That's what we did to you."
"'Puppies' is a noun, not a verb." Jellal pointed out. Merudy shrugged.
"Well, you guys couldn't reach a decision, so I reached one for you," she said.
"Yes, but that isn't how compromising works," Ultear told her. "You have to reach a common ground." Merudy looked a little confused.
"But everyone likes puppies!" she protested. "Except Zancrow, but who cares what he thinks." In fairness, the statement did cause Jellal and Ultear reached common ground on one thing – arguing with Merudy was pointless. Jellal sighed.
"So, I doubt you broke me out of prison solely to tell me that Erza was gone," he said, flinching a little at the word 'gone'. "What do you want?"
"To stop Zeref," Ultear said. "We want to eradicate the darkness, so that no one ever turns out like we did."
"You're trying to atone," Jellal realized. Ultear nodded.
"We want to eradicate the Dark Guilds," Merudy explained. "We thought you'd be interested in helping." Jellal was silent.
"We understand if you don't, but you'll probably be killed if you just go back to prison," Ultear admitted. "So… well, it's up to you, I guess."
"I've already picked out a name for us!" Merudy chirped happily.
"There's three of us," Jellal pointed out. "What do we need a name for?"
"Oh, so you're in?" she asked. He shrugged, and she beamed. "Well, we need something for people to call us. I mean, people who go around destroying Dark Guilds are gonna draw attention pretty quickly, and the media probably isn't the best at naming things. You know, 'Titania Erza' sounds fine, but what if she'd been a guy? Would they call her 'Oberon Erza'? That's just lame."
"I don't think it really matters," Ultear muttered. Merudy ignored her, more out of excitement than disrespect.
"We'll be 'Crime Sorcière'!" she declared. "It means 'Witch's Sin'!"
"Actually, it means 'Crime Witch'," Jellal told her bluntly. "I'm pretty sure "Witch's Sin" would be "Le Péché de la Sorcière". Not that my French is particularly good." Merudy looked saddened for a moment, but then she brightened up again.
"Well, it sounds cool, and it's got the two word theme, like other guilds!" she said. "So it works!"
"But we're three people," Ultear pointed out. "That's not a guild. Besides, we're all criminals, so we can't be a Legal Guild, and it's just silly for a Dark Guild to go around taking down other Dark Guilds."
"Actually, that could make us an Independent Guild," Jellal said. "The real problem is that not all guilds have a two-word theme, like Death's Head Caucus, or Sabertooth."
"How is that the biggest problem?" Ultear wondered. She was, again, ignored.
"Actually, Saber Tooth split its name a few months ago, so they've got a two word name too, and Death's Head Caucus is a Dark Guild, so it doesn't matter what they call themselves." Merudy argued.
"Gramlush!"
"No one cares about them!"
"Carbuncle!"
"They're from Veronica!"
"Love & Lucky!"
"The 'and' is a symbol, not a word!"
"Fisher Man's Prize!"
"They're treasure hunters, not mages!"
"Tartarus!"
"Dark Guild!"
"Eisenwald!"
"Disbanded!"
"Harpuia!"
"They just followed Racer around," Ultear remembered, not at all surprised when her teammates didn't seem to notice.
"Dark Bridge Familia!"
"They've been gone for years!"
"Reborn Oración Seis!"
"That was just the original Oración Seis with a couple changes!"
"Okay, that's enough!" Ultear broke in, hitting them both on the head with her orb. "Look, it really doesn't matter, so long as we get the job done." After a couple grumbles of unhappiness, Jellal and Merudy agreed. Ultear sighed to herself, wondering if Jellal was acting this way because she hadn't given him a whole lot of freedom during puberty. That brought up some unpleasant thoughts, which she quickly pushed out of her head, hoping that Merudy wouldn't be too bad.
As Ultear and Jellal were soon to discover, Merudy was a whole lot worse.
AN: So, I intended to have this out yesterday, but, obviously, that didn't happen. And yes, puberty will definitely come back to bite Ultear in the behind. I'm probably the only person ever who thinks about what puberty would be like when you're possessed, but I doubt that Ultear knew too much about guy puberty, so she probably didn't think that through. In which case… well, the mood swings come for everyone, even if it's delayed. That idea actually came from Kinana, who I recently learned was a year older than Erza (and Jellal and Mira and Jenny and Lyon and Toby and Yuka), making her the same age as Freed, Evergreen, Nab, Hibiki, and Ren, which brings up the question: if she was twenty when Makarov turned her back into a human, why did she look like she was eight? Even now, at twenty-seven, she looks fairly young, but she should have already finished puberty before the time skip, so why was there such a big difference after it? My explanation? Magical crap happening to you as a kid fucks up your life. So basically, since Kinana spent her childhood as a snake, she had to grow up really fast. Literally. Since Jellal spent eight to nine years as Ultear's puppet, he never really had the chance to deal with the crap teenage boys go through, as Ultear had no reason to think about it too much. So now, Ultear has to take care of a thirteen year old who has probably just smacked into puberty, as well as a twenty year old whose belated puberty is catching up with him. That's right, folks: the true villain of this story is puberty. Oh, and Passerby Guest? Macbeth and Erik will get a scene to themselves soon enough. Probably.