((A/N: Fourth chapter! You know, I was actually going to upload this chapter yesterday, but thanks to the fact that I'm in vacation and the idea of time simply vanishes, I wasn't quite able to realize it was thursday. Today's morning I decided to check. And, boom, it's friday. So double update for you guys!

P.S.: ...Sorry.))

Fourth Trip: Thursday Dusk.

The forest was illuminated by a pinkish light. So, the sun is going down. Erza thought.

She sighed, was it just her or these paths were getting longer? She held tightly to her basket, hearing the noises of the woods. She was not afraid, just cautious.

Like he had said that last Wednesday.

It had been around two years since she had seen the blue haired Wolf, two years and she was still angry at him. He had said soon. The last time she checked twenty four months wasn't the meaning of soon. Didn't he have any sense of punctuality? The fourteen yeared old Erza shook her head in dissaproval.

Honestly...

Natsu and Lucy had their usual great friendship, but now more than ever, Erza has been able to catch Lucy's red cheeks and Natsu's pinkish smiling blushes. It didn't bother her, actually, she kinda hoped those two would get together. But what did bother her was the fact that there were many people Erza wasn't able to defeat, and if Natsu wasn't able to defeat her...

She sighed, and saw the house. There were lots of people laying on the grass around it. "Lucy?! Natsu?!"she cried, dropping the basket and running towards the place.

Talking about people to defeat...

"Are you guys alright?" she called, but all she heard were sobbings in Lucy's room. She quietly walked towards the room. Holding onto the knife she now kept on her tall socks. She heard more sobbing, "S-stop!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE" Natsu's voice shouted louder than Lucy's.

She thanked god that this door didn't creak. Faster than she'd ever believed herself to be, she pressed the knife she'd been holding against the inside of the bandit's thigh. If you cut right here, her father had taught her, not even the strongest man will be able to defeat you.

"Wo-wow, another little girl" chuckled the man.

"Oh no.." muttered Lucy, knowing what was going to happen next. Erza hated the word ever since-

"I'M NOT LITTLE!" Erza shouted, cutting the back of the man's leg, not where her father had taught her, but rather in the other leg, where no important vein or artery were, in his quick reaction he dropped Natsu, who went next to Lucy, checking whether she was hurt or not. When the man turned around to punch the hell out of her, she pushed him, seeing his lame position to turn.

With the non-sharp part of the knife she hit the man a couple several times until he was unconcious.

"What... happened" said Erza, feeling both tired and too energetic at the same time. It was a sickening feeling.

"Some bandits came here, I stopped most of them, as you see outside, but that bastard sneaked behind me" Natsu said. Erza narrowed her eyes.

"What. Else?" she asked once again, feeling in her bones he was lying, that wasn't just it.

"He put a knife to my neck and threatened to spill... everything on Luce"

Erza's eyes widened, and then those eyes turned into a glare as she looked down at the unconcious dude, a glare that Natsu wouldn't, ever, ever, want to be faced upon, no, even worse, he didn't want to see that glare, ever again. That's when he was absolutely sure, not that he didn't have a great idea, the scarlet haired wasn't one to mess with.

"Are you alright?" she said, her eyes softenening, but the anger was still there behind the worry. It was still there, making it's way to her throat, painful, almost like sadness, almost like it, both made her want to cry, both made her weak, both made her blind, but she didn't know just yet, how bad sadness could get.

"I'm fine. Luce?"

Lucy nodded, but there was still shock in her eyes. Living there, in her peaceful home, she'd never been face-to-face with such evil. The look in that man's face, that strange grin, he was enjoying it, enjoying her screams and Natsu's tries to escape his hands.

"I'm sorry, Erza. I promised, a-and, I got distracted, and all this happened, and I risked both our lives. I'm... It's all-" And that would be one of the rare times Natsu felt this guilty. One of the almost unexistent moments when he didn't even have words to explain the feeling of regret on his chest.

"It's not your fault, Natsu. Don't even think about it. It's their fault" she said, pointing at the man on the floor, "And their fault only. They wanted to rob you, a girl who's is sick in bed, and a boy half their size. They are horrible." she finished, and Natsu nodded slowly.

Erza sighed.

She was alone on her home, her mother had left to the market to buy some groceries, and even though you might have thought Erza's mother was scared for her, she knew her father had taught her well. There was a knock on her door. She grabbed her faithful hand knife, not far from her. There was another couple of knocks. Her grip tightened on the knife. She walked towards the door, giving good strong footsteps as to make herself sound as a bigger person. She knocked against the main door.

"...Erza?" said a voice.

A familiar voice.

It was deeper, she might add. Maybe his tone was a strange one as well, but well.

A smile started to grow on Erza's face.

She opened the door, and saw a covered face. "Jellal?"

The figure lowered one of the many cloths on his face. Showing the red mark on below his eye, a grin starting to grow as well. "Hello, there"

..Huh.

Somehow...

"U-Uh, hello. You took your time, to come back, I mean" There was a strange glint in his eyes. Just for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that. I was busy"

Erza's eyebrows rised, "Really? For two years?"

Jellal chuckled. "Yeah"

Was it...

"Want to come in?"

There it was again...

He gave her a grin. It felt forced.

He didn't want to be there, maybe? Maybe the reason he had come was merely because he felt guilty for the promise? But he didn't look-

Truthfully, her bones were screaming, LIES.

She ignored her stupid bones. She ignored her stupid thoughts. She ignored her stupid mind. She ignored her stupid heart as well. Something's wrong, they all said.

Something's really wrong.

What was it in his eyes...

That glint...

"Sure"

What was she listening to, if it wasn't her brain nor heart?

In his eyes...

She was listening to her eyes. Those foolish pair that got deceived so easily.

In his eyes there was something...

She smiled at him and let him in.

Don't let him in, not now. Something's wrong, both heart and brain said, agreeing for once.

She walked ahead of him. "Erza?"

She turned to see him.

In his eyes there was a simple plead, "Get angry. Don't let me in"

He grabbed her by the shoulders. Leaned closer. Don't. Plead three voices who'd she and her eyes should have listened to.

Push him away.

"Push me away"

Push him away.

She closed her eyes.

She received a soft peck on the lips as a reward of trusting the wolf.

She was happy.

That one second of happiness was enough, she guessed.

Who knew how wrong she would be?

She was just fourteen when she met a stabbing experience. Betrayal.

And an even worse feeling, Love.

((A/N: And... we start with the angst, just in chapter four, I work fast people... Hoped you liked it! Hehe, different from expected, huh, Bedtime Readers?

Honestly, they are always talking that it's either your brain or heart you are listening to. But, you know, when my father first told me, 'You are eating with your eyes', that means that you aren't actually hungry, but just seeing something that looks good makes your hands move, makes them grab that piece of cake/meat/whatever, and force yourself to eat it, I knew, it wasn't just heart and brain, it was eyes as well. We have many voices inside, asking us to do things, and all we can do, is think what is better for us of all of those choices.

What is good for us?

-A deep Ruby

Oh! And the review from Le Potato: First of all, I love your name. Beautiful. Second of all, yeah... sorry it didn't quite go like that...))