CHAPTER 3: THE TRUTH...

"What do you do for fun? What kind of food do you like? What kind of person do you love?" Jellal chuckled on Erza's continuous questions.

"Why is your family name Scarlet?" Jellal asked.

"My name?"

"Yeah."

"When I was born at that time in my family only i had blazing red hair. My father really loved them. So he named me Scarlet but my mom wanted to name me Erza since she really liked it so at the end they both agreed to the name Erza Scarlet."

"It really suites you i guess. The colour of your hair, no, it does suit you."

"I know right." Erza said with a large smile on her face.

She was really glad that her hair were red and she was more than happy to know that Jellal also liked her hair. To be honest Jellal was the third person to think that after her parents nobody ever really liked the colour of her hair but that never let her down, she was actually thankful for having such a change from others. Erza and Jellal continued talking as they walked along the stream after college at afternoon.

That day only Erza had her part-time so she wanted to spend some time with Jellal before that. The same night when Erza finished her part-time she saw Jellal waiting for her outside their usual union place reading a book in his hand. When she asked him he closed is book and said that since he had nothing to do so he would rather accompany her home. And she was more than happy to accept the offer. They both walked together in silence enjoying each others presence.

"They are the same multi-unit apartments. There are homes with money and those without, homes with alot of family,and single households, homes with babies and homes with only elders." Jellal explained when Erza asked a sudden question on their way to her home. They climbed the stairs that led towards Erza's house and stopped to turned to look around and saw the train pass by at a distance. The weather was a bit windy that night and Erza liked the view of the houses she saw from the height.

"It would be nice to have a home." Jellal said after a pause."Saying i am home when you arrive. Remove your shoes, wash your face and hands and sit yourself comfortably on the chair. That would be great." Erza looked at him and saw him from the side looking at his envious expression.

"I would build a shelf. Fill it with books and then build another shelf. You could do as you please, your own home." Erza smile at his imagination. She loved the idea of that. She again faced forward towards the attractive scenery.

"And I'll say Welcome home when you arrive." Erza said with a smile her face still forward so she failed to notice a silent gasp and a surprised look from Jellal.

After that their entire journey was silent. During their rest of the time Erza walked a few steps infront of Jellal. When they almost reached her apartment complex Jellal suddenly called her out.

"Erza..." Erza stopped and turned to face him.

"There is something I must tell you." Erza started walking backwards a little while Jellal stopped seeing that Erza stopped too.

"What is it?" Erza asked with a little bit of curiosity judging from his serious expression.

"The truth is..." and there was a long pause.

It was a bit longer than the one when Erza asked him if he would like to share her book. Jellal was facing the ground the entire time.

Erza started feeling a bit uneasy. Her mind taking her to dark but she refrained herself from thinking any thing heart was getting cold by every second. Only the sound of the cars passing by and the noise of the crickets and grasshoppers could be heard.

"Let's continue this tomorrow." Jellal finally said. Erza felt a bit relief but her heart still couldn't rest but she decided not to push Jellal and wait till he was ready to tell her the said truth.

"Okay." Erza replied.

After they reached her home Jellal quietly left.

Remembering the events of the night before Erza turned around in the strong arms that held her. It was way past midnight she was supposed to sleep but she decided to watch the sleeping face of the owner of those strong arms. Erza smiled when she saw Jellal's sleeping face. Cute and handsome was what she thought recalling the events that happened that day.

The morning was usual for Erza. But that day at college Jellal asked her to wait for him at their usual meeting place after her part-time and as told Erza went to the usual meetinf place which was a coffee shop. Erza finished her part-time at 8 and waited for Jellal at the coffee shop. Time passed by and it got colder and the shop closed at 10 but there was no sign of Jellal yet she decided to wait for him. And finally at 11 Jellal showed up but by that time Erza was sitting in front of the shop dozing off.

"Erza...Erza." Jellal called her out.

"I am sorry Erza. I messed up." Jellal said witha a tone of guilty in his voice. When Erza heard his voie she felt relief and faced up fro her knees to look upto him with a smile. After that Jellal took her to edge of a nearby cliff from where they could see almost half of the city.

"It's something I have never told anyone before." Jellal started.

"I was scared, because you might leave me. But I should have told you sooner." after a small pause Jellal continued

"No, I should have shown you." that took Erza by surprise

"Shown me?"

"Could you close your eyes for a moment." Jellal asked. Erza became more curious and more afraid but decided to close them. A few seconds later when she didn't hear anything Erza opened her eyes a bit.

"A bit longer." Jellal suddenly said.

And she closed them again. After about 10 seconds Erza asked"Can I open them now?"

When she didn't hear any answer Erza opened her eyes only to see something breath taking.

The first thing she saw was Jellal's left hand that he held outwards get bigger turning into a claw. Then his face elongating forward. White furry fair appeared on his neck and down to his chest. Big wolf like ears appeared upwards on each side of his head.

Moon shinning brightly behind his back and a strong wind making the now out of nowhere hair on his neck flowing in its direction. Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her her mouth opened from shock. The one standing before her was a half wolf half human. Nothing came out of her throat. There was nothing she was able to say at that time still trying to recover from the shock.

"Erza..'' Jellal started. "What do I look like?" He asked looking into her eyes.

Erza's eyes widened as much as they could herm outh still hung open.

Transforming on full moon nights, and attacking people was known as just legends. The world is full of things unknown to me. Yes, that's probably what my mother thought.

"Did I shock you?" Jellal asked before they could get ahead of their night activities. Erza was sitting naked on the bed with only a sheet covering her and Jellal was sitting in front of her also naked.

Erza suddenly shook her head.

"Should we stop meeting?"

Erza again shook her head facing the bed. Jellal's transformed hand touched Erza's chin and brought her face up so she was looking at him

"But you are trembling. Are you scared?"

"I am not." Erza looked at him in his eyes. "Because it's you."

Jellal's hand travelled the back of her head and he leaned forward to kiss her which Erza happily reciprocated laying them both on bed and continuing what they were doing.

My father was a descendant of Japanese wolves, that went extinct about hundred years ago. The last being that inherited the blood mix of humans and wolves. His parents told him, when e was still very young,the history of their family's destruction. They told him that the truth should not be revealed and died after. He was then left in the care of relatives that knew nothing about it, faced many troubles and grew up into an adult. He got a driver's license and moved to the city to look for a job. He knew no one and had no one to look back on. Until that point he had taken care to live in secret and in hiding. That's what my father said.