Thirty-Eight - Jellal Fernandes
Jellal wasn't at all sure what to do. He didn't understand why Siegrain had suddenly turned on him and Myst. He wanted to get as far away from the house as he could before his father decided he needed even more punishment. Already, he was nursing broken ribs, which had only recently managed to heal after his last physical altercation. He was in a lot of pain and wasn't paying too much attention to where he was headed.
He ended up at Fairy Tail's front door. He wasn't sure what brought him there. He knew Ultear or Meredy would take him in in an instant, but he still decided to knock on the door in front of him. It opened after a moment, revealing Natsu. He looked surprised.
"Whoa," Natsu said. "Who beat the shit out of you this time?"
"Natsu, what the hell?" Gray's voice came from the left. He came into view and looked at Jellal. "Oh," he said. "What the fuck happened?"
"My dad kicked me out," Jellal said. "It's a long story."
"Did he literally kick you?" Natsu asked. "Because-"
"Don't be so insensitive!" Lucy reprimanded as she walked over. "Come inside, Myst."
Jellal grimaced. "I have something to confess," he said.
"Save that for Erza," Natsu said. "I don't wanna hear it."
"It's obviously not that kind of confession," Lucy said. "What is it, Myst?"
"My name isn't Myst," Jellal said.
"What?" the three said in unison.
"My name is Jellal," he said.
"Jellal?" Lucy repeated. "That's- that's right! You're triplets!"
Jellal nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I've been pretending to be Myst to you guys all year, though."
"What? Why?" Gray asked.
"It's complicated," Jellal said. "But I'll explain it if I can also explain to Headmaster Makarov."
"I already know, Jellal," Makarov said from across the room. Everyone looked over to see the old man walking towards them. "Headmaster Yajima and I have known that this has been an elaborate ruse the whole time."
Jellal was not prepared for that revelation. "What?" he asked. "How could you know?"
"You are not your brothers," Makarov said. "You are not the best liar. Besides that, Gildarts can't keep his mouth shut when he's drunk. We know that Myst is on tour with Anima and we know that you have been covering for him. We even highly suspect that you were not solely responsible for what happened with the Era Student Council."
"Well," Jellal said. "I mean- I don't-"
"That's what I thought," Makarov said with a small smile. "Why cover for Siegrain?"
Jellal sighed and then winced as it hurt his ribs. "I just- I don't know," he said. "And now I don't know what to do."
"Why did your dad kick you out?" Gray asked.
"Because Sieg told him that I was expelled from Era," Jellal said. "And that I've been covering for Myst, who has been going against what he's been told to do."
"What?!" Natsu asked. "What a dick! Who is Sieg?"
"His brother," Lucy said. "Why would he do that?"
"I'm not sure," Jellal said dejectedly. "Everything was going- not well, I suppose, but well enough that Dad didn't find out."
"Oh, we're gonna have to go talk to him," Gray said threateningly.
"W-wait," Jellal said.
"Where is he?" Natsu asked. "At home?"
"No," Jellal said. "And you can't-"
"He's probably in a student council meeting at this time of day," Lucy offered.
"Let's go to Era, then," Gray said to Natsu.
"Yeah!" Natsu agreed.
"Guys-" Jellal started to protest, but they were already gone.
"Jel- Uh, Myst?" The familiar voice came from behind him as he watched Gray and Natsu run off. He spun around to see Erza looking at him from across the room. "What happened to you? And why are you here?"
"Uh..." he said, not sure what exactly he should say.
"Jellal is going to stay here for awhile," Makarov said.
"What?" Jellal said in surprise. "I am?"
"You can't go back home," Makarov reminded him. "And it will be no trouble for us." He turned to Erza. "Right?"
"Of course it's no trouble," she said, seeming confused. "But what happened? Why can't you go home?"
"Siegrain happened," Lucy explained.
"Sieg did this to you?!" Erza asked, gently touching a bruise on his cheek.
"No," he said. "Sieg told my father what's been going on."
"Your father did this?!" she asked. "How could he?!"
"I'm not welcome at home anymore," he said, trying to keep himself composed. "And Myst is probably in trouble too. At least he's far away." She seemed to be speechless, examining his many wounds. Eventually, she seemed to give up on trying to respond and simply hugged him instead. "E- Erza?"
Her embrace hurt his ribs a little, but he definitely wasn't going to stop her. He placed his arms around her and held her close, his mood lightening from the feeling. She pulled back after a moment and looked him up and down. She looked so concerned and Jellal hoped he didn't look too terrible. She took his arm and started to lead him down a hall.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get you fixed up."
-.-.-
"So, this is your room?" he asked as Erza dabbed disinfectant on a bad cut on his jaw.
"Yep," she said. "I guess you've never been over here."
"Yeah," he said. "The only times we hang out are at school or my house. Well, what used to be my house."
Erza scowled. "Why would Sieg do that to you?" she asked. "Why does he have to be like that?"
Jellal shrugged and winced at the pain the movement caused. "Maybe it's better this way," he said. "Now I don't have to pretend anymore."
Erza looked down at the floor. "Does that mean you won't be coming back to Fairy Hills?" she asked.
"I didn't even think about that," he said. "I suppose, now that I'm not pretending to be Myst, there's not a whole lot of reason to keep going."
"Oh," she said gloomily.
Jellal was surprised by her tone. "Erza?" he asked. She didn't look at him. "I can keep going if you want me to."
"I can't make you do that," she said forlornly, reaching to place a bandage over the cleaned cut.
He grabbed her wrists in his hands, causing her to look at him in confusion.
"I want you to be happy," he said. "Just tell me how to make that happen."
She blushed slightly. "Jellal, I-" she started. "I just don't want you to leave my life again. It's happened too many times already."
"Agreed," he said. "I'll still be going to Fairy Hills then." She smiled brightly and he released her hands. "Besides," he said as she placed the bandage on his jaw, "Mirajane should be assigning us our sack of flour soon. I can't let you do that on your own."