I was very tempted to use 'the Underminer' name from the Incredibles (Pixar; great film) in this chapter...
Mikasa-Chan, you're welcome! Thank you for such enthusiastic support! That's a very goo idea, Jerza going on a mission; I have to see whether I can fit it in soon... for now, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter's mission!
Mitzy123, haha yeah the EdoJerza was kinda cute in the latest chapter! More importantly, thank you for your review! Hehe, Disney Princess confirmed I'd say, now the Pigeon only needs to clean up with him xD I'm glad you liked the guild moment; very glad, in fact, to know cause many characters at once are always hard to write; thanks!
foxydame, don't worry about being late! I'm really grateful how you write such long and wonderful reviews for both chapters! Thank youuu! I'm just smiling here, rereading your review until I remember to write something here ':D Thanks for mentioning Kagura, too! I also thought of her new modelling career and I'm happy to know you made the same connection for her appearance to make sense! 'dancing with someone staring cold bloody murder at you' xD Hahaha, give him the money, he has a wedding to plan; you're like Erza xD I like your style ;D
I didn't even notice a bird and Mystogan together... mind reading. And of course you called it - I'm giving credit as I was told - you just know who the silhouettes are :D Thanks again so much!
(Checking on noodles)
Somnolent Sushi Roll, thank you so much for your review! I was procrastinating up until I read it (heart)! 'Did... did he just use Erza to carry the bird' still cracks me up xDxD He did. ┐(´～｀)┌ I love what little things you mention; the sleepwear, the one Magnolia line, the way you call her lil strawberry baby and all of that fangirliiiing! I included the whether Laxus call smell it to be her scarf cause you pointed that out (didn't think of it :D).
Hope you'll enjoy!
"You have to be kidding me…" Jellal's shoulder fell alongside his face. He wanted to slap it to a tree.
"I thought you were acquainted since that whole shebang with Acnologia?" Laxus raised a teasingly curious brow, watching how Jellal reluctantly tread after him to meet their allies.
"Men!" Ichiya turned, rather spun, sending sparkles flying. His own face pulled into something awkwardly distorted upon spotting the familiar face. "I-if it isn't Laxus and Jellal," he managed, still a little frightened, so it seemed by the amount of sweat that dripped down his angular face. Laxus was delightedly amused, on the verge of snickering as he watched the deadpan expression of his guildmate keep from glaring into nervously twitching eyes.
No matter how openly they spoke, there was always something that intrigued the Dragon Slayer about his older comrade, reminding Jellal of Jura once again. He was becoming a source of entertainment to people.
"Please stand back, everyone," Eve's young voice cut through the tension, creating a different kind. "We're close." He glanced over at Hibiki's analysis of Archive.
Quieting, they all turned towards what appeared to be a regular clearing. Jellal wondered how they were blaming the potential discovery of their actions on a small conversation with their giant battle airship parked a couple of metres to the side. Stealth did not seem to be Blue Pegasus' strength, he concluded, joining Laxus in watching. The latter crossed his arms.
"According to my Archive, the leakage of magic power is occurring right," Hibiki pointed ahead, "there!" He vaguely determined, continuing with the supportive nodding of his team. "I'm sensing an enormous amount of magic – this must be the origin of those earthquakes," he said, not helping Jellal in understanding their purpose of being there.
Suddenly, the ground burst and crumbled in front of their feet. The Trimens stumbled back while Jellal thrust his feet into the ground, balancing on top of the debris to keep his footing. Like a surf board, the earth beneath him slid off the side of more rubble, digging itself to the surface. Roots curled up and into view, frozen blocks of dirt tumbling over one another.
Laxus had jumped off onto an unharmed spot, peering at where the ground had begun to split. Ichiya was back up on his feet, forming pistols with his fingers. Why ever, Jellal thought to himself, catching himself to be observing the small man more than he should have in the current situation. He really did have a problem with overprotectiveness, he started to accept, the urge not subsiding even with Erza nowhere near.
A figure emerged from the slowly settling snow.
"So, you have found me, Blue Pegasus," a scratchy, squeaky yet masculine voice raised above the commotion. Jellal stood still, every muscle in his body tense and ready to strike.
"Then it is you who has destroyed parts of Onibus, Digging Danger!" Ichiya stretched out his finger guns in an overdramatic, accusing way. Digging…?
"Quaker, I am the Quaker!" The man with a rodent-like face protested. "Didn't you see how I wrote my name in burrows?" He asked, starting a discussion with the leader of Blue Pegasus' team. Ren interrupted, lifting his chin from where he had climbed onto a pile of debris to stand taller.
"Tell us, what is the meaning of all this?" He demanded. Jellal's brows furrowed. Did they always make such a scene out of every mission they completed? How was it even possible to hold a lengthy conversation with their target if he was not this attention-seeking? They probably just pestered without being asked to, he assumed.
In any case, they were a good distraction.
"Oh, that I will tell you!" The rat-man slyly rubbed his hands together. "I have come to bring chaos to this land! I will conquer the cities, ruin the- argh!" He shrieked when blades of light smashed into him, sending him flying into a tree. Everyone gasped, turning to stare at Jellal.
"Jellal! What are you doing?" Ichiya enquired, his smooth voice upset. This only increased the frown on the Heavenly Body Mage's forehead.
"Uh, fighting?" He could not help a helpless gesture. "What does it look like?"
"He wasn't done yet!" Eve complained.
"Yeah, I wasn't done yet!" The delinquent cried from where he was rubbing his jaw that already bulged with a bruise. Jellal's shoulders dropped in exasperation, seemingly all the way to the ground. They could not be serious, right?
"So? I'm not going to stand around until he reveals some tragic backstory – he already confessed to his crimes; he needs to be stopped," he argued, feeling stupid for having to do so.
"You could've waited until he finished his monologue though," Ren coolly ran a hand through his hair as if looks were of any importance at that moment. To him – and his team, so it appeared – they were.
"Yeah, I practised that!" The man lurched to his feet, angrily screeching at him. Jellal ignored him, glaring at Ren who was shaking his head in theatrical disappointment.
"Why?"
"It's just the way these things go," Hibiki shrugged. Jellal groaned out loud. Were these still the same people to have held their own against Acnologia? Remembering Laxus to have been in the same guild as them for a year gave way to admiration for such patience. However irritating and insolent he might have come across sometimes, he was a saint for putting up with those drama-queens.
A bolt of Lightning struck, making everyone wince. The rat-man had snuck up during their bickering, now crispy and stiff where he had been caught red-handed at the side door to Christina.
"That hurt, you know!" He yelled at Laxus who grinned.
"I like your style, Star Boy," the Dragon Slayer rose a brow with a smirk stretching up the corner of his mouth. His stance widened, hands coming up in preparation to a battle of fists, rather than magic. Jellal gave a sharp exhale through his nose, then mirrored the smirk. He adjusted his beloved's scarf, then rolled his shoulders backwards.
"Let's finish this."
"Excellent work, men," Ichiya sparkled at his comrades and Jellal was not sure whether they were being addressed or whether it was just that illogical catchphrase of his. Christina jolted a little as it started, taking them all back to Magnolia to drop off their heroes of the day.
Laxus and Jellal had made quick work of the apparently magic-less man, following his tracks to find the actual reason behind a magic powerful enough to split apart the earth: a lacrima-merged machine of enormous calibre. Not big enough to be unfitting for Blue Pegasus' airship, however, now out of commission and crammed into the hold.
"Ya don't have to fly us back, old man," Laxus said to the Captain as he leaned against a window of the cockpit. "Just get this here done first – the ol' nag can barely move with this weight," he commented on how they practically crept just above the tree tops with much effort, snapping a couple of them off in the process.
"Nonsense," Ichiya, sparkled where he held the wheel, "it is our pleasure,"
"Ichiya," Laxus cut in, his voice softer than expected, "turn around and get to Clover first," he instructed. Another moment of stoic silence passed, then the Blue Pegasus' Mage complied. The ship lurched and tottered, obediently following the wheel's aim to head north. A nice exchange to watch, Jellal found, seeing how they must have clashed quite a few times back then until arriving at a trusting relationship such as now.
Not something Jellal saw for his own future, keeping quiet in the back of the room. The landscape flew by and it was the first chance he had to properly appreciate the interior of the new Christina. He remembered the awkwardness of his first ride in its predecessor, how shy and embarrassed both he and Erza had been to accidentally bump into one another. It brought a smile to his face and he tugged the scarf around his neck a little higher.
Nearing their destination, Hibiki came up to his idol.
"Uhm, I think we have a problem,"
"Nothing Ichiya can't solve," Ichiya praised himself, striking a pose – fleetly grabbing the wheel again when Christina dropped and steered off course, making everyone stagger.
"Well, since the machine is leaning against the processor, it kinda cuts off our connection," Hibiki explained uneasily. "I can't get the ship to open the hangar from here," he confessed, shifting from one foot onto the other. Ichiya furrowed his brow. He opened his mouth but his guildmate was faster. "I also can't contact headquarters to ask them to do it…" he added. Ichiya's mouth closed.
"We're nearing the base; slow down or we'll collide if the door doesn't open," Ren joined the discussion. Jellal's ears perked. He glanced out the windscreen, spotting where they were headed in the far distance.
"I cannot slow down – we are too heavy; we will lose height," Ichiya explained. He was tense, but he did not adapt the nervousness of his team, wordlessly assuring them with posture. He turned to meet expectant green eyes. "Jellal," he raised his silky voice. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I hope you will win this race," his face one could hardly ever take seriously darkened.
"Open the hangar?" Jellal asked. This was finally starting to get exciting. Blowing off steam by dealing a handful of magical hits had already pumped up his fighting spirit but the excitement had subsided pretty quickly. And no matter how tired he was, a part of him already longed to get going. Erza had trained up his stamina well.
"As quickly as possible," Ichiya instructed, starting to lose his cool when the ship rocked threateningly. Jellal nodded once, starting in the direction he recalled the platform for rising to the roof to have been in the last model. Laxus pushed off the wall, following his guildmate.
"You need any help?"
"Can you levitate a ship?" Jellal asked, securing Erza's scarf tightly around his neck. Primarily as not to lose it. On second thought, he took it off, wanting to preserve the smell by not exposing it to strong wind.
"Nope," Laxus furrowed his brow upon taking the article of clothing.
"Then make sure they don't panic," Jellal instructed, finding the lift and then the button to activate it. "Throw out the machine if you have to," he said, receiving a nod.
"Maybe Squirrel Face will have to go first," Laxus grinned to which Jellal gave a look, if an amused one.
"Oh, and don't make them have too much faith in me," he said as he stepped onto the planks, elevating into the opening ceiling. "I'm not so sure this is going to work," he doubted, hearing a snicker before nothing but icy wind roared in his ears, making him wish to have kept the scarf.
With a face burning and red from the biting air, Jellal glowed with the power of Meteor. He surpassed Christina's slightly held-back speed within seconds.
The hangar came into view, giant gates towering in front of him. Jellal narrowed his eyes, finding it not only closed but frozen over. He threw an estimating glance behind him, the speck that was the airship enlarging by the minute. He knocked on the gates, hoping for someone to be inside and open it. Not relying on it, he scanned the walls, spotting what appeared to be a password-protected remote. Bingo.
Landing on his feet, the now awe-inspiring gates stretching hundreds of metres above him, Jellal had to rub his cold hands over the in snow covered keyboard. It shook his whitening skin with a shiver. Letters. Letters and numbers, dimly illuminated from below. He realised not to have been informed about any password, slightly panicking when seeing Christina to be nearing at a rapid pace.
So he shot back up with meteor, drawing a huge Magic Circle, firing an intense gale in the direction of the approaching ship. Its speed decreased, fighting against his magic that made him grit his teeth in effort. There was no time to go back and ask for a password, so he punched in M-E-N. A buzzing sound came, the device rejecting him. He tried C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-A, being met with the same result and growing apprehension of not being granted more than three attempts in total.
Cursing, Jellal dashed upwards again. He drew another circle, rifling another hurricane at the gates, followed by blasts of fire to melt the ice covering the metal doors. Back at the remote – and not without having to fight to keep Christina from clashing – he tried one last time to open the gates without force. Otherwise this called for Grand Chariot, he dreaded.
P-E-R-F-U-M-E
The remote beeped, something blinking in green. The gates sighed and creaked a second later. They slowly scratched across the floor, the hinges just as frozen and the metal, too heavy to move faster than walking pace. Jellal stood in front of them, erasing the fire spell to focus on holding back Christina, who was now hovering so close, her engine battling his Air Magic, he could have touched her would he have reached out.
With another burst of wind against the doors, they swung open faster than intended, something on the inside breaking. It freed the way regardless and Jellal halted the gale towards the hangar, gradually lessening the one keeping the airship in check. It crashed down onto the stone flooring, crumbling everything in its path but not carrying off a single scratch itself.
Steam whistled out of every opening and the ship seemed to sigh as it came to a stop, the howling engine drying down. It was not long until the crew emerged, all relieved and some – namely Ichiya – having cried tears of triumph after their sudden panic. Something Jellal gladly escaped.
"I forgot you could do all of that wind stuff," Laxus said after they had long walked out of Blue Pegasus' Headquarters, hands in his pockets. Jellal shrugged, focusing on fixing Erza's scarf around his neck. Unsuspiciously, he sniffed it, inhaling her scent that had fortunately not been lost. He did not notice the knowing, dubious from the side, not caring either way.
"It's not my specialty,"
"But doesn't one have to have mastered all four elements to cast Abyss Break?" The Dragon Slayer asked with a glance to the side. Jellal did not meet it. That was not something he was proud of, and it made him wonder how Laxus knew. All of Fairy Tail must have known about his crimes and yet, not a single person accused him of anything. It was as alleviating as it was confusing.
"'Master' is a very subjective term," he vaguely replied.
"Urgh," Laxus groaned, "to think the day would come when being humble becomes annoying," he gave a rather forceful nudge, making Jellal stagger for a second. He glanced up, frowning in puzzlement. "Give yourself some credit, man," the Lightning Dragon Slayer mildly huffed, "you're a real powerful Mage, why don't you just admit it for once instead of beating about the bush?"
Stunned, Jellal took another moment to react. He sighed shortly, hiding a small smile in his beloved's scarf.
"Maybe your idea of impressive and mine vary – I don't brag because I don't deem myself as good as you all say," he illuminated. And it was true. There was a great deal of tremendous magic he could do, but there were things by far more incredible to him – forgiveness, kindness, acceptance. Strength and courage at heart – something he was blow away by almost daily by the love of his life.
That, and people who showed off, whether it be entitled or not, unnerved him. There was so much more to enjoying one's abilities than reaping admiration for them.
"Bragging and telling the truth are not the same thing though." Laxus sounded serious. He led the way out of the train station of Magnolia. The snow was flakier here, crunching under their boots. "It's okay to admit a strength."
"It's odd to call myself truly able to cast all of these types of magic when seeing the members of your guild fight so expertly with them,"
"Our guild,"
"Right. I always forget," Jellal grimaced, refraining from awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Not that his hand wanted to obey in the first place, cold even through the fabric of his trousers. He switched to his coat then, the pockets not yet warmed up but padded.
They turned a corner, having switched places of leading as the house was closer than the guildhall.
Laxus sighed, not quite irritated enough to convince of wholehearted exasperation.
"You're a real piece of work, Fernandes," he said, "and I'm sorta glad that Titania's the one having to cope with it," Jellal threw him a look, being ignored. They trudged on in silence for another few metres. The house came into view. "But if ya do need help with something… I'll see what I can do," he did not lift his gaze from his feet.
Jellal halted, stunned, but Laxus went on. He lifted a hand, not turning once while giving a single wave, plodding down the street. Neither calling a goodbye himself nor remembering to ask about any reward from the job, Jellal just stood there for another minute.
The cold did not let him dwell in thought for too long, though, soon reminding him to rummage for a key and get inside. It was still freezing.
With his muscles finally screaming and his head clouding up with exhaustion, Jellal dragged himself back outside, inspecting the cellar for any heating systems. It took him over two hours and a trip to the hardware to figure out that the cumbersome, tube-looking gadget was, in fact, a heater – an under-floor heater. Completely outdated as the man in the shop had said and apparently only serving selected rooms, making sense as they had not seen a single pipe within the concrete while tiling the hall, but it was better than nothing.
And it worked, if slowly, to Jellal's relief. With a deep sigh that deflated him, he finally sank into the sheets. He did not bother to unpack his bag yet – which he had luckily not needed – granting himself a moment of rest before deciding to make something for dinner. Propping himself up, he winced at hitting something hard with his elbow. Her lacrima.
Blinking at it, Jellal remembered to have forgotten it. He let the screen light up.
9 missed calls. 14 unread messages.
Scanning the messages from Meredy's lacrima, he found them each to be enquiries about his well-being from his beloved. He tapped the contact.
"Jellal?" She answered almost immediately. Several voices were heard in the background, most of them protesting for the Queen of the Fairies to put the device away.
"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked despite knowing her to merely be worried about him.
"You forgot the lacrima, didn't you?" She scolded and he gave a chuckle before admitting and then apologising for his mistake. "Are you back home? How was it?" She went on in a lowered voice. Mira's persuasions turned into teases, trying to get Titania off the line and back to relaxing. The majority of the girls joined in, someone he would have identified as Levy asking where the hell Erza had even gotten the device from.
"If she can fit three Exceeds in a dress, I'm sure she can hide that in a towel." Lucy was replying, followed by an 'I don't even want to know' he could not allocate.
"It was good and I'm back. Going to make dinner now," he said, dutifully sauntering into the kitchen. "I even found the heating,"
"That's great. And you're uninjured?" She stressed as if not having listened. There was a hiss and a splash while she fought off her well-meaning friends.
"Meredy, take back your lacrima," Mirajane ordered in the background.
"No way, I'm not suicidal," came back immediately.
"Erza," Jellal sighed with amusement, "why don't you go and relax with everyone and we'll call tonight?" He proposed, a glance out the window telling him how it was already late.
"Alright, I'll call you back later," she agreed, sounding relieved at the idea. He smiled, hearing one in her voice as well as she whispered her reluctant goodbye, seemingly waiting for him to end the call. He did, only after another moment of listening whether there was really nothing else on her mind she needed to get rid of.
With his smile not fading for minutes to pass, Jellal rolled up his sleeves, getting to work. He browsed through a book of dessert recipes while eating, marking potential treats to welcome his beloved home with. He could not wait to finally curl around her in their own bed again.