The group had approached the outskirts of the Dragnov kingdom after a long week of traveling. Every one of them was exhausted to the point of nearly keeling over. In the distance, Wendy noticed a bright red at the entrance to the kingdom. It was the queen.

"This is it." She thought as she looked over at Erza.

There were too many similarities between the two for there not to be some sort of connection between them. The small dragon remembered how the queen would talk about a child she had lost quite some time ago and how much it had pained her. If bringing the red headed young woman to her would help ease that pain, she'd be more than willing to do it. The queen was like a mother to her, after all.

The problem was she didn't know how Erza would react.

The queen had spotted the familiar red that was Erza's hair and stopped in her tracks.

"There's...no way..." She thought.

But upon closer inspection, she found it was. Time seemed to stop, and her heart stilled. Her eyes stung and welled with tears that immediately began to fall.

Erza's eyes went wide as well, and she came to a complete halt. But instead of crying, like how Wendy assumed she would react, she seemed to be getting...angry?

"E-Erza?"

The young woman's teeth gritted, and her hands balled into fists. Her head hung low, and she didn't speak.

"Erza!?"

Irene all but sprinted towards the redhead and threw her arms around her, nuzzling her face in the other's hair. The queen's tears dripped onto the top of Erza's hair.

"...Get away from me." Erza darkly muttered.

But the queen didn't listen. Erza, filled with rage, began striking the queen, hard.

"I said get away from me!" She yelled as she hit her.

The queen still didn't let go. She only squeezed harder. She didn't care how much Erza pushed her away. She wouldn't lose her again. Not ever again.

Tears flowed down the younger woman's face as she continued to hit her.

"GET OFF OF ME!"

Erza inhaled the scent of the queen's hair. Strawberries, like the cakes she used to make when she would feel sad.

The same scent that helped her fall asleep after having a nightmare when she was little.

"Get off of me!"

The queen's embrace became tighter, like the hugs she would give her after she had hurt herself as a child.

The same embrace she had given her the day her father left them.

With every memory, she recalled, the more her resolve dwindled, and the weaker her hits got. She hated how she was crying. She hated how much she craved this sort of affection. She hated how much she just wanted to crumble to the ground. And she hated how much she had missed her.

"Get...off..."

A sob escaped her throat as she weakly hit her one last time. Her body had given up, and she leaned on the queen for support. Support which she gladly gave. Erza's arms slowly wrapped around the queen's body, and she rested her head in the crook of her neck, sobbing loudly.

"Mom..."