Hello!
This is unexpected but I hope not unwelcomed. Someone (an exceptional artist who makes Jerza art on twitter :*) commented on a sooner chapter upload I didn't realise I presented the prospect of, but you know what? There've been so many incredible reviews on the last chapter already, that I decided to do just that. Because you guys are awesome! And I appreciate you!
(not to mention because I kinda tortured you with the two last ones, sry)
I'm sorry I can't promise to keep on uploading this quickly, but I'll still try to keep aiming for the usual Friday.
Here I go:
Guest (no 1): thank you so much for leaving me a review! 'It also rains in paradise'; I was almost impressed with myself until I realised it wasn't my quote xD but it's beautiful and I thank you for the praise! Hope you continue to enjoy!
Guest (no 2), thank you so much for taking the time to write me a review (with two fat paragraphs!)! Haha, please don't worry, there was no peace disruption there (more of a strengthening of this amazing community - and you're part of it (if you like of course :D)). Enlightenment is in the making and coming up. Also thank you for your enlightenment that this tension could use some resolving. Hope it'll be worth the wait!
Mitzy123, yeah you, dear artist, thank you for your review! So many gs xD Haha, and thank you also for your 'vote' on the talk and the encouragement despite the heaviness of the current mood!
Guest (no 3; wow, you anonymous guys are killing it), thank you so much for leaving me a review! I really appreciate the kind words and especially the reassurance on the pace, even if it's hard on the characters and therefore you readers. Thank you!
Mikasa-Chan, ever faithful Mikasa-Chan, thank you so much for your review! I'm really glad you, too, appreciate the realism despite its sadness; I might be taking FanFiciton a little too seriously, but then again, you enjoy it and that makes it worth it (and makes up for the crap I wrote when first starting to write xD). Thank you also for 'voting' in favour of the conversation and yes, dork daddy Jellal is definitely coming up (I have so many ideas on that, it's hard to stay focused on the present).
Andrea, thank you so much for your time and effort to leave me a review! Such a perfect summary of what happened; makes me want to rewrite and include the things you mention like 'having to let it out' but then again, you showed me that I conveyed the idea; thank you! Thanks for 'voting' as well; I'll be sure to incluse that.
foxydame, this is your spot; I know you always review between Thursday and Friday but imma leave this little note, just so you know I appreciate you.
Hope you enjoy! (I count piano fingers, not violin fingers should this confuse anyone)
Jellal sighed under his breath. Listlessly dotting the side of his protocol draft, he watched the accused without actually focusing on him. A plump man, though with a jaw that looked as if it could crack open walnuts despite the flabby double chin. So he started to draw said face, an exaggerated dentation and a couple of by far too detailed walnuts next to the lousily scribbled overbite.
A messenger entered the trial room, hasting over to the Council's loge, long robes swishing quietly. The accused looked dumbfounded, though not any more talkative than before. A stubborn one, refusing to say any more than absolutely necessary – hence the space for drawing the cakehole, or in this case, walnut-hole.
Jura nodded pensively, a smile playing on his lips upon receiving whatever whispered information he was being given. Returning an instruction just as hushed, he straightened in his seat once more. Jellal frowned slightly when the Wizard Saint dismissively shook his head in response to his colleagues' questioning glances, deeming whatever he had been told as too minor to share.
The interrogation continued when Jellal felt Jura's glance on him. He returned it, almost gratefully, starting to scribble on an empty piece of parchment in big letters. Thank god he was finally consulted and they could stop the meaningless enquiry – another hour of this and he might have exploded. He needed to get up, to pace, to violently rake his hands through his hair or at least gnash his teeth in order to get some of the pressure he was suffering under to go away. He needed to get out.
And he prayed they would accept his proposition to deliver him.
Holding up his sheet where he sat in the back of the accused, he showed the Council his approach. Warrod almost grunted with laughter, wooden cheeks puffing in a held back snort as much as tree-humanly possible. Draculos raised a dubious brow but Wolfheim was already nodding impatiently while Jura stroked his chin beard, amusement still reigning his features.
Puzzled by the sudden firework of reactions, the accused turned, but Jellal had already but down his sheet, pretending as if nothing was amiss, adding a mole to his drawing he had caught sight of now that he had seen the face more closely.
Wolfheim cleared his throat to distract from the scribe.
"So then you've seen the accomplice but cannot remember his face?" He asked. They had already tried the pronoun-game, having discovered the missing suspect's gender without the accused noticing.
The man tightened his childishly crossed arms.
"Seems to have slipped my mind…" he repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.
"And would, let's say, 50.000 Jewels help that memory along?" Wolfheim offered. The man's teeth twinkled as a huge grin stretched across his enormous jaw.
"Perhaps, perhaps not…" he mumbled. Definitely, Jellal knew, unable to believe how niggardly Wolfheim bribed. What was the point in bribery if the amount could only just buy a fancy swimsuit?
"100.000 then," Wolfheim sat back defiantly, apparently not as clumsy as Jellal had assumed, the bargain being part of the scheme.
"Dark hair and eyes, sideburns and a scar down the left cheek – works at the Dancing Bear in Oshibana. Paying in cash or via transfer? I prefer cash – make it small notes; the more the better," the obviously greedy man grinned self-complacently. Draculos' brow sank again, his gaze shortly meeting that of Jellal. Impressed, if he allowed the interpretation, though there was never a safe bet when it came to the Chairman of the Magic Council. How he masked his feelings this well and at the same time oversaw such an easily readable trait about the accused was a mystery.
And what an idiot that man was, expecting to be paid without taking his own imprisonment into account. Even if they kept their promise, he would not see the money for a couple of years.
In any case, the missing link had been found and Jellal itched to get up. He had to check his lacrima, see whether Erza had texted him to be alright – her not coming home that night had scared him, and he had chosen work over going to look for her by a hairbreadth. His leg picked up its wiggling again when the guards slowly followed their instructions of taking the man away.
Draculos rose from his seat first and the others followed suit not a second later. Thank Goodness, Jellal inwardly thought, finally getting up. He could feel his co-worker's concerned eyes, choosing to ignore them. Ambrose knew what his haste was all about but Jellal was not ready for any more soothing words and distracting anecdotes. He wanted out. At least out of the trial room.
Fleetly gathering up his documents – hiding the nutcracker between other sheets – he made his way to the Council's loge. Suppressing another sharp sigh, he waited restlessly for the Council to step down and give their two scribes the official decision for the final wording of the report.
Jura smiled when coming to stand next to Jellal, the others taking their sweet time Jellal wanted to bloody yell at. His face revealed nothing, only the twitching of a vein on his temple displaying his booming headache and growing impatience.
"Well," Jura – quite evidently in a cheery mood that day – humorously twinkled at Jellal. "Care to guess who changed their civil status again?" He smiled knowingly, thoroughly confusing his subordinate. With a frown, Jellal merely tilted his head. He could have fallen asleep on the spot would his mind have let him – there was no way in hell that he could figure out any more wordplays after overexerting his brain too much already.
Still fairly amused, Jura lifted his hand. Wiggling his fourth finger, he gave a hint. Not comprehending yet, Jellal raised his own hand, glancing down at it. Jura's eyes popped.
"Wait, you mean she wasn't joking?" He all but blurted out. "You're actually married?!"
"What? Who- Erza's here? Where?" Jellal gasped just as much. She was here? Back from her mission and safe and he had not been told right away? Of course, that was only natural with the trial still going on, but he could not believe how much less of a wreck he could have been, had he known. Again, he prayed – this time for her not to have been sent away, because right now, he was sure he would abandon his work at once and rush to her side.
His nape started to sweat profusely, whether out of relief or still sheer anxiety he did not know.
"Hold on, you're married?!" Jura was still staring at him as if he were growing gills as they spoke.
"Yes,"
"So last time she announced herself as 'Mrs Scarlet' wasn't a joke either?" Jura went on, quite effectively interrupting any conversation the remaining Council members had been holding up until now. They resumed to try regardless, wanting the case to be resolved as soon as possible.
"Yes, I mean no, it was," Jellal shook his head. It made it spin so he stopped, trying to see with his eyes and circumvent the gory mental cinema his brain presented to him. "Is she still here?" He asked, trying not to make it sound like the plea it was. The parchment in his hand was crumbling by now, feet itching to move, mind already planning the route down to the entrance hall and out the doors should he need to.
Jura watched with concern, though the utter bafflement was still painted all across his face.
"I had her sent to your office," he disclosed. "Is everything okay?" He asked, but Jellal had already turned on the heel.
"I don't know yet, I hope so," he breathed over his shoulder, scurrying out the room, pretermitting the following questions of the Wizard Saint.
"Is something the matter?" Ambrose joined after his short consultation with the rest of the Council.
"Erza's here – did you know they're married?!" Jura burst out once more.
"Of course," Jellal overheard his colleague's calm response, as well as the unbelieving exclaims that followed by Jura, though only as voices without words. He was already too far down the hall. His feet were flying across the white marble, echoing where they brushed the ground in his sprint.
He knew that after roughly four months, maybe more, a child was not born. But there was still the terrifying term 'miscarriage' he had yet to read about, the word's mere existence nearly wiping out his own by causing the unhealthy hammering of his tightening heart.
Then there was the mission; the supposedly harmless wrestle with a monster that had killed her numerous times within the span of a single night, the images of his nightmares resurfacing once again. But she was here, he told himself, she was right there, he tried to calm himself when his breath came too short for him not to grasp for air.
Throwing the door open, Jellal stormed his own office. He came face to face with an anthropomorphic amphibian, his burning lungs hitching with a surprised gasp as he nearly ran her over.
Blinking in surprise at his sudden arrival, she then pointed towards the shelf near the window where the couch stood.
"Thank you," Jellal panted in slight relief at how calm everything was. Even the window was opened again, pigeon perched on the windowsill while the air was fresh, biting at his blazing throat while the outside was as if frozen solid, still and silent. Not a single snowflake dared to disturb the serenity, and the lack of voices, steps and scribbling weighed his shoulders down with alleviation, if a mild one.
"Don't mention it," the slightly shivering but enduring frog lady gave a smile, and he returned one, too, for an instant.
"Really, thank you," Jellal emphasised, hardly able to comprehend the sudden change in atmosphere. "I really appreciate it," he said, receiving another smile before the messenger left. The door closed softly but he was already in another dimension entirely. Back to the one he had involuntarily dwelled in since the day before.
On the loveseat, curled up as much as the thick coat allowed – the coat and her growing stomach, he knew – Erza laid, having fallen asleep. With his shoulders finally falling all the way, Jellal approached her. Crouching down, he put a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking it until she stirred.
A small moan escaped her, a pressed breath, then Erza blinked her eyes open. She looked exhausted, almost as much as him. Perhaps just as much, he pondered while she brought up one hand to rub her eyes. Meeting his, he recognised the same insecure gladness his own must have been brimming with.
"Erza, what's wrong? Did something happen? Are you unwell?" He flooded her with questions, his tone soft, however, quiet yet urgent.
Shaking her head, she sat up.
"No, no, I'm okay," she said, apologising repeatedly upon noticing his abating wheezing. "I just," her eyes averted to stare at her knees, "felt lonely…" she confessed in a small voice. His brows knitted together in pity.
"I'm sorry," it was his turn to apologise, no matter the dismissive shaking of her head, "I'm responsible for that," he said, sinking down to kneel as well, his body suddenly heavy. "We both constantly fear everything's just a dream and that we'll wake up eventually, but I promise you-" he took her hands, "I promise you I'm not going to leave you, whether it's a dream or not," Jellal pledged, his catching breath still rocking his chest.
He had thought long and hard about what she had said, shocked at the wording but back then by far too much of a mess to properly react on it. To react as he should have immediately, erasing her doubts on the spot. With his heart still racing against his ribcage, he hoped she would believe him.
But Erza only apologised again, as if his words were merely the spoken truth of something she had already known – or perhaps recently realised – on her own. She swallowed, but her voice did not pick up in volume. She squeezed his hands back.
"Hug me," Erza meekly asked, not quite a question but sounding like one as her tone travelled upwards towards the end. Deflating in a gradually relaxing exhale, Jellal let go, wrapping his arms around her. Creeping up between their torsos, Erza hands came to grip his waistcoat, and, after a long while, she sighed, leaning fully into him.
Remaining where he was, shushing any following apologies she whispered, he waited until both had calmed down. At least to some extent.
An idea came to his mind then, and Jellal reluctantly detached himself from her. With another squeeze to her hands, he promised to be back in just a minute, having realised to have left without the official report's approval. Erza nodded wordlessly. She did not look as if fearing him to leave her anymore, but the forlornness still overshadowed her eyes as she watched him hurry to the door.
In another sprint, Jellal made his way back to the trial room.
"Sorry, Todd," he called over his shoulder when accidentally bumping into and almost running the poor researcher over. He did not have the time to realise that he had remembered the name, pressing on, halting abruptly when reaching the double doors.
Straightening his waistcoat – only then becoming aware of having left his jacket behind as well – Jellal entered with an expression as collected as he could muster. His lungs heaved but he decided that oxygen could wait until he was back at Erza's side.
Of course, Jura spotted him as he had only just tossed his jacket over his shoulder.
"Is everything fine then?" The Wizard Saint approached. He looked worried, seeing as Jellal was both shallowly panting as well as flushing from the unexpected exercise.
"Yes, fine, all good," Jellal grabbed the report on his table, inwardly sending gratitude to Ambrose whom he knew of to have conveniently deposited the document where he would find it. "Just gonna finish these before five; before the post collects for the final time today, right? Alright," he did not await any answer, zooming back out of the room as unsuspiciously as he could, then resuming his run to his office.
Closing the door, throwing the jacket over the backrest of his chair, Jellal swiftly sorted the documents on his desk, making sure everything he needed was in perfect reach without him having to get up. Then he rounded the shelf, finding Erza on her side again, eyes closed but opening right after his hand came down on her arm this time.
She still looked a little defeated, a little exhausted and more than a little overchallenged – as if he was looking into a mirror.
Leaning over her, Jellal slid his arms beneath her. Gently aiding her to sit up, he wrapped one arm around her back, digging the other beneath her thighs to lift her up.
"Hold on," he breathed, and her own arms unfolded from her chest without hesitation, winding around his neck. Carrying her over to his desk, Jellal shortly placed her down like he always did in the kitchen on a particularly lazy day. He shoved out his chair with one hand, never letting her back go with the other one. After having found just the right space for both of them, and with the desk still in reach, he carefully rucked her back up, sinking down in his chair with her on his lap.
Erza sighed a deep sigh, conjuring a tired smile onto his face. Her legs dangled on either side of his, brushing the floor, and after the first few minutes of drawing soothing patterns along her back, followed by the first finished page of the official protocol, her hands dangled, too, over his shoulders. Warm breath steadily vented down his neck, and Jellal could not help the occasional stroke through her hair.
Minutes passed. A more comfortable silence now filled his still agitated mind. He shivered lightly, glancing at the open window. He remembered to have closed it before leaving, meaning Erza had reinvited the strangely attached bird in. Untying his scarf, Jellal wound it around both of their necks. It hid away half of her face, now that she was resting her head sideways on his shoulder, but he decided the warm haven it created for her against his neck to be just the right thing.
He felt he needed it, too.
The sun was already starting to disappear behind the horizon when there was a knock on the door. Up until then, the building had quieted down, hustling steps and busy voices lessening, fading into the background, the only noise remaining being the soft snoring in Jellal's ear.
"Come in," he said without raising his voice. He did lift his face out of the scarf, however, as not to yell at her within their cosy nest. A fond smile greeted him, growing warmer the clearer the scene became to the old man's eyes.
"I see the pearl has returned to its oyster," Ambrose said in a hushed tone, obviously glad to finally be enticing a smile from his co-worker, if merely a small, short-lived one.
"I hope it's not causing any trouble," Jellal excused. It was still rather unbelievable how Erza practically waltzed into the Magic Council's building whenever she pleased, sleeping on their sofas and eating their food. Then again, the entire being-hired-for-talent-without-caring-about-his-past situation was still leaving him in puzzlement, so he opted not to question the Council's ways of making decisions too much. He would enjoy the privilege, and not overthink for once.
"None whatsoever," Ambrose assured. "As a matter of fact, I think it's doing you – and with that everyone around here – good," he gave another smile, and Jellal sighed to himself, not quite up to smiling again. His senior turned to the window, catching sight of the anticipated bird with a curiously amused hum.
He clasped his hands behind his back.
"I do wonder though as to why you are still here," he said, making Jellal cease to write. The second his hand had let go of the quill, it automatically, unconsciously, wandered back to the small of his beloved's back.
"Sir?" He asked, frowning.
"Why aren't you going home already?" Ambrose clarified.
"The report," Jellal slowly explained. "It needs to be finished for the official arrest's command to be sent out to the local police of Oshibana," he reminded, "for the accomplice to be-"
"The report's been finished ages ago, son," Ambrose interrupted, however minding his volume with Erza still fast asleep. Not that he would have awoken her – Jellal knew he would have a hard time getting back to the mansion, already debating whether to bother trying to wake her at all. "I told you already, but you must have been too scatterbrained to hear," Ambrose laughed quietly. Jellal pulled a face.
"Scatterbrained?" He raised a brow.
"Perhaps it's your hearing, too," Ambrose twinkled playfully at his co-worker's loosening expression.
"You make it sound as if I'm an old man," Jellal sighed, feeling a sting when realising that he did, in fact, feel like that recently.
"And that's an insult?" Ambrose returned the pointed brow humorously.
"It is to a not yet thirty-year-old," Jellal countered, earning a shrug.
"Fair enough," his senior admitted. "Although I was referring to your ears going numb as soon as your significant other's name drops, but that might only be my imagination," he bent over to glance at the not even by half finished report. Jellal nodded for him to take it for a closer look.
"No, that's definitely not your imagination," Jellal found himself to be smiling again, hiding it behind his scarf as he momentarily leaned his head to his beloved's.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Ambrose put his hand on his hips, impersonating the strict nanny, sending their child to bed. He closed the window in Jellal's stead, turned off the lacrima lamp on the desk and tossed the jacket and then winter coat over his colleague's shoulders – having to fasten it under the hardly movable head of Erza –, somewhat shooing him out the door.
With a tut, a muttered 'young people these days' following right after, he smiled to himself. Turning, making his way down the opposite direction of Jellal's, Ambrose went to secretly pick up where his co-worker had left of the 'finished' report.
Meanwhile, Jellal assessed that it would have been indeed useless to try and wake his beloved. Neither getting up, nor whispering to her, nor the constant movement as he carried her down the nearly empty hallways made her stir. It was not until he was stopped by the most stoic of the Wizard Saints that she gave a small hum of complaint. Still not rousing though.
The man was always imposing, and even though Jellal was rather sure of his own magic to be able to compete with the widely feared Vampire Magic of his superior, being caught with his wife sleeping in his arms did make him feel quite vulnerable.
Had he noticed, he did not show it.
"Congratulations on your wedding," Draculos said, surprising Jellal. "We would have liked to send you flowers and our best wishes, had we been informed," he did not yet scold, but Jellal sensed a trace of what he read as the beginning of chiding. "Let's hope there won't be a next time to amend the past error," he continued, and now Jellal did feel reprimanded, at least warned. Not that he had planned to ever leave or even divorce Erza. Ever.
"Thank you…?" He cursed at the curve his voice took as it matched his quizzical look.
"Regardless, I have come to notice that you failed to hand in your holiday schedule yet, and we would appreciate a timely receipt should there be any coinciding dates to be discussed," Draculos advised.
"My holiday schedule?" Jellal asked, suppressing the urge to delicately ruck his beloved up where his arms held her to his torso, fortunately not completely blocking his vision and with that, conversation.
"The days you want to be off work," the Wizard Saint elaborated, confusing with the plain tone Jellal would have expected to sound annoyed. The man was the embodiment of neutral, at least most of the time, making it hard to figure out his true opinion.
Even more confusing was the wide-bowled wine glass he currently carried around with him and refilled with what was unmistakably milk whenever his frequent sips emptied the cool beverage. Was that a vampire thing, Jellal wondered.
"I see no one has explained that to you," the elder man noted, and Jellal gave a court nod as not to disturb his beloved.
"No, Sir,"
"Well, be sure to ask for the form then and please hand it in by no later than the end of next week," Draculos instructed, wishing a good night as he and his milk passed Jellal with a swishing of his cape, disappearing down the hallway.
Blinking after him for a moment, Jellal could hardly decide whether to still be baffled or blithe. There was an official holiday schedule! If all went well, he could just choose whenever they wanted to go on their honeymoon and be off without further debate. Heck, they could be off by no later than tomorrow after work! Hypothetically.
With a trace of newly found energy in his step, Jellal carried Erza out the Council's building. Fond gazes eyed them from all sides, snickers and whispers seeing them off at the front gates. He wondered why there were still so many researchers, guards and other employees, seeing as Ambrose had somewhat kicked him out. He did not question it, too occupied with carrying his wife all the way down the mountain, through the city and near outskirts, up the stairs and into bed.
He aided her sleep-mumbling form out of the winter clothing, not having to rid himself of much himself as he had hardly even worn his coat or jacket until then. Flopping down into the mattress, Jellal ignored any further effort despite a quick trip to the bathroom, cuddling into Erza beneath the sheets in the hopes of reviving his stiffly frozen arms.
Falling asleep in the auspicious prospect of the coming day.