Nineteen - Erza Scarlet

At school, Erza tried her best not to let it show that she was hurting. She had fought several of Phantom Lord's members and sustained many injuries. The first half of the day wasn't too bad. Theater was the only morning class that generally involved movement, and they had decided to have a movie day instead of class. After lunch, things got more difficult.

History was easy, though she dreaded it because it was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid Jellal. Fortunately, he wasn't trying to talk to her. Instead, he had sat in the corner at lunchtime and stared down at the table, not even eating anything. He was acting very similarly in class. She wasn't ready to figure out what was going on with him.

Gym was going to be the hard class. Many of the students in the class were injured in some way. Even Coach Elfman had been in the fight against Phantom. They were supposed to be playing basketball, but only Jellal and Virgo had full range of movement. Erza noticed Jellal lean over to Virgo; he had been avoiding everyone from Fairy Tail, so she was the only person there he could talk to.

"What happened to everyone?" he asked the pink-haired girl.

"Fairy Tail got attacked by Phantom Lord," Virgo told him.

His eyes widened and he looked over at Erza. Their gazes met for the first time since Friday night. His face showed concern, but she looked away. She was still angry. She never thought that he would be capable of such terrible things.

"Let's forget the sports today," Elfman groaned, sitting down on the bleachers.

"Let's take a nap instead," Natsu suggested, lying down on the floor.

"A manly nap," Elfman agreed.

Erza sat in the corner and took some time to think over the situation with Jellal. She had been so distracted all weekend that she had been able to ignore it. But she had to deal with it at some point. He had never been the type of person to threaten people to get his own way. It was hard to believe.

He hadn't denied it, though; according to Simon, he had even admitted to it. And, if he hadn't been expelled from Era, then how could he be at Fairy Hills? It all fit together perfectly; everything made sense, except that Erza still had feelings. Despite it all, she was pretty certain that she loved him. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on them, covering her head with her arms.

"What's wrong with Erza?" she heard Gray ask someone quietly.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure," Lucy whispered. "But she came home crying on Friday night, after being out with Myst."

"What?" Natsu asked loudly, making Erza cringe. "Don't be ridiculous. She doesn't cry."

"Well, she did on Friday."

"That bastard," Natsu growled. "I'll kill him."

Oh no, Erza thought, lifting her head to see Natsu getting to his feet as he glared at Jellal. The blue-haired boy was sitting in the opposite corner from Erza, staring at the ground. He looked up when Natsu approached him. This is going to be bad.

"You made Erza cry!" Natsu accused.

Jellal looked shocked for a moment, but then the expression faded and he stood up.

"I know," he said. "I-"

His words were cut off when Natsu punched him in the face. Erza stood up quickly as Jellal stumbled backwards. Natsu grabbed him by the collar and held him up, glaring at him. One of the wounds on Natsu's arm reopened, but he ignored it. Erza started forward as Natsu yelled at Jellal.

"You son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. "What the hell did you do to her?!"

Before Jellal could say anything, Erza pulled Natsu away from him.

"Let it go, Natsu," she said. "It doesn't matter." It did matter. "I'm over it." She wasn't over it. "I'm over him." She definitely wasn't over him.

"This jerk-"

"I know," she said, noticing Jellal's devastated expression. Her words had hurt him. She wouldn't take them back, though. She had to stay strong. "It's better to just forget about him."

She dragged Natsu away, though he didn't seem happy about it. She wasn't going to tell anyone the reason Jellal had made her upset. She knew that Myst needed help, so she'd leave that alone for the moment. Everyone could think whatever they wanted. And Jellal could live with them being upset for various reasons.

-.-.-

Mirajane refused to let her switch partners for Home Economics, which made things even more difficult. Jellal was not doing well with baking. Erza almost felt bad, seeing him get so frustrated, but she wasn't about to help him out. She had easily finished all of her required items and he had shoddily finished one of his. Class ended before he got very far with the second.

When they got to homeroom, Gildarts took one look at Jellal's bruised cheek and sighed. He pulled Jellal into his office and Erza wondered how Jellal was going to explain the injury. The bell rang as the guidance counselor's door opened. Jellal looked as desolate as ever, but Gildarts patted him on the back and sent him out. Erza walked right past, headed for fencing club, and heard Natsu and Gray speaking to Jellal.

"Time for karate club, Myst," Natsu growled.

"You had better show up," Gray said icily.

"Right," Jellal sighed. "I'll be there."

Erza forced herself to keep walking. They weren't going to kill him. She scolded herself for caring what they did to him. Still, she hoped they didn't mess him up too badly. She, foolishly, looked back to see Jellal watching her.

"Erza," a girl's voice said, catching her attention. She looked around to see a shadow in a nearby classroom. "Come in here. I need to talk to you."

Erza cautiously approached. The girl reached out and pulled her inside before she could protest. She closed and locked the door behind them, which worried Erza. Worry faded to be replaced with jealous anger when she saw who the girl was. Ultear Milkovich smiled apologetically at her.

"What do you want?" Erza spat.

"I know you're upset with me," the dark-haired girl said. "But, honestly, you're upset for all the wrong reasons." Erza was confused. "First things first," Ultear continued. "You may be under the impression that Jellal and I have some sort of 'more than friends' relationship."

"I don't care-"

"Don't lie, just listen," Ultear interrupted. "The only reason he has been at my house is because he thought you were at his house with Siegrain every day. He didn't want to see that."

"I wasn't at his house," Erza said.

"He knows that now," Ultear said. "I've thoroughly explained to him how much of an idiot he is. However, his relationship with me isn't the only thing you've been misinformed about."

"What are you talking about?" Erza asked. Her heart felt ridiculously light, just hearing that Jellal and Ultear weren't together. She tried to remind herself that she shouldn't care. "I don't want to talk about Jellal anymore."

"That's too bad," Ultear said. "Because we're talking about him. And we're, more importantly, talking about how you shouldn't be mad at him and shouldn't let your friends beat the shit out of him in karate club."

"I don't know if you know this-" Erza started.

"It wasn't his fault," Ultear said, cutting Erza off. "It was Siegrain's."

"What was?" Erza asked.

"What you were just about to tell me," Ultear said. "Jellal didn't come up with the plan to extort the student council. He only helped because he was practically forced. Sieg wants to be the head of his father's company and he needs to impress his father by becoming student council president."

"I'm confused," Erza said slowly. "Simon said-"

"Simon was wrong," Ultear said. "Everyone is wrong, and Sieg and Jellal are lying to make sure everyone remains ignorant."

"But, why wouldn't Jellal tell me?" she asked.

"Because he thinks he's just as bad for helping it happen. On top of that, he believes that you want to be with Siegrain, and he doesn't think he has any right to ruin that," Ultear sighed. "He saw you two when Siegrain tried to kiss you."

Erza felt her face heat up. "B-but, that was-"

"I know," Ultear said. She made a face. "But Sieg still wants to be with you, and Jellal doesn't want to go against him. Besides, he still feels bad for never talking to you after you moved away. But that wasn't his fault either-"

"If he felt bad, why didn't he just talk to me then?" Erza asked, crossing her arms. The absence of Jellal and her other friends from Tower Middle School had always been a sore subject for her. She didn't feel like talking about it with Ultear. "Then he would have nothing to feel guilty about."

"As I was saying," Ultear continued. "It wasn't entirely his fault."

"How?" Erza inquired skeptically.

Ultear looked down, seeming a bit ashamed.

"It was my fault," she admitted. "I told him not to send you any sort of correspondence. I managed to convince him that it was better for everyone if you went away."

Erza took a few steps back, dropping her arms to her sides. "Why?" she breathed. "Why would you do that?"

Ultear sighed. "I was a foolish, jealous, cruel girl," she said. "I realized, much later, how horrible I had been. Only very recently have I realized that I still have problems being a decent person. I helped Sieg too- No, I coerced him into using threats to keep the student council in check. But, I'm getting better now." She looked at Erza hopefully. "I'm helping Jellal instead of making life difficult for him."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Erza asked.

"Because," Ultear said with a small smile, "you need to know the truth. Jellal would never have told you himself. He's too..."

"Self-sacrificing?" Erza suggested. Ultear nodded. "I guess he does that a lot. He's always covering for people to keep them from getting in trouble. He's doing it for Myst. And, apparently, also for Siegrain." She thought back to when they were children. "He's covered for me and the others when we were younger."

"Exactly," Ultear said. "I'm not saying that he's never done anything wrong, because he's messed up his share of times. He did help Sieg with the whole student council thing. But he wants to do better. And what he really wants is for you to be happy. He told me so himself."

Erza felt herself blush. "He's so..."

"Jellal?" Ultear suggested.

Erza shrugged and gave a short laugh. "I guess there's not a better word to describe him."

"I have to get to my student council meeting now," Ultear said, looking at her watch. "You go make things right with Jellal before he kills himself via Natsu and Gray's fists."