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"Most importantly is it so wrong to love you despite the fact that you will never truly love me in return?" Erza got up and ran back to the cabin as the tears actually escaped her.
Jellal's eyes rounded as he became shocked at her revelation. "She loves me? But...I.. She loves me...." Jellal quickly got up and ran after her, not caring that he left the fishing pole cast in the water. He didn't know what he would say when he found her again. He didn't know what he would do. He only knew he had to confront her properly. He had to get her to tell him properly or withdraw her confession, or... Geez, who knew?! He just had to get to her and somehow make this right. Even if it meant running away again.
Did she run as far as the cabin? Did she keep running? Did he sit there and dwell over what she said two seconds too long? Jellal kept his stride, the walk to the pond wasn't long from the cabin but while he was running back right now time seemed to slow to a crawl. Meanwhile, his brain was running a million miles a minute. He had to get her to express herself. She questioned everything but she didn't exactly express much.
He found the cabin door wide open and catapulted through the archway unsure and uncaring if he left it open himself. He took the stairs two at a time but when he heard her behind the bedroom door he stopped. Who would have thought that the great Erza Scarlet could cry like that? Her weeping was causing her breath to go ragged. The sound hurt his own chest. He didn't bother knocking, he knew she wouldn't answer if he did. He simply pushed at the door. It pivoted inward easily since she didn't think to lock the door behind herself. He found her curled up on the bed. "Erza?"
"Shit!" She sniffed. "Go away Jellal!"
He couldn't go away though. He found that he didn't want to. But he also couldn't think of anything to say. Instead of comforting her, instead of questioning her, the idiotic words that tumbled out of his mouth were, "but you're in my bed."
Erza sniffled and cast her eyes on the wall behind the headboard, away from his peering eyes. "Wow, and I thought being in your bed would be one of the happiest moments of my life."
He didn't think she meant to say it out loud. So he didn't respond. He waited for her to put herself together a bit more before he said another word. "How? I mean, no, yes how can you love me?"
Erza glared at him. "That is the most preposterous question I have ever heard! How could I love you? How does the sun shine? Why do birds sing? It simply is."
"But," Jellal sighed. "Simon claimed to love you. Before I...before.."
"Yes, he did. It was sweet for him to admit that. But I never shared his feelings, at least not like that."
"Are you saying..?"
"That I've loved you since we were kids? Yes, that's the long and the short of it. I have loved you that long."
"But, I've done so many despicable things. I'm not worth loving, nor am I worthy of your love."
"You do realize it doesn't work like that? Our hearts want what they want. Screw trying to make sense of it."
"You make it sound like the brain has no say so in the matter."
Erza shrugged. "I guess it depends. Sure, my brain has tried to talk me out of my feelings. But then your actions have changed my own mind."
"So? You did fall out of love with me?"
"I almost died, Jellal. I definitely did a lot of soul searching then. Maybe I did briefly cast my feelings aside. But then you came back into my life again. In most recent years, mostly the years that I have been away, you have changed. You are more noble then you could know. It's a shame you have to live on the run. If the Rune Knights knew all the good...well I wish they would pardon you but it doesn't really work that way."
"Which is exactly why I can't respond to your feelings." It made sense in his head to say that but for some reason his chest ached verbalizing it.
"Oh fuck that! In this moment I'm telling you to stop doing the right thing and be selfish for once. What do you want? In the grand scheme of things if life were easy, what would you desire most?"
Jellal gritted his teeth. "What would I desire most?" God she was infuriating. If she wouldn't drop it then... He pulled her off the bed so she stood in front of him. Her eyes were swollen and red from her tears but that moment of hope cast in her eyes done him in. He didn't reach out with his lips. Instead his lips instantaneously devoured hers. He bruised them and marked them as his own, and it didn't take her long to realize her own hunger and respond. Her hands clawing at his back pulling him as close as she could. He would regret this moment later. But right now he could do nothing but act.
Before Jaspar left the guild he studied the loose gems he had acquired over the years. He glanced between them and the small purple haired mage. No one understood his magic much but one thing that helped him determine the proper gems was he could see the color of the aura represented in a dragon slayer's magic. Mikayla was hard to read. But that was probably the layering of abilities. The most prominent color was a dark bluish purple. Jaspar had one garnet that was nearly that color. But it probably wouldn't work. "Hmm."
Levy touched the elder man's shoulder. Levy and Gajeel rarely left his side and somehow Jaspar forgot their presence when he began studying the gemstones. "I'm not sure I have the proper gems to make dragon slayer gems for the babies. I might have to see the twins before deciding that though."
"I don't understand."
"Each magic has its own signature aura. Mikayla hovers around the dark blue/purple area but I can't guarantee the twins will be the same. I want to make sure I do this right for the babies, and well for you honestly."
"This isn't for me," Levy arched an eyebrow at the idea.
"Isn't it? Think about it carefully, my dear. You want me to do this to help those babies. But truthfully if anything happened to those young ones I don't think you would forgive yourself. I think you would somehow blame yourself. I can't let that happen."
"I won't let that happen." Gajeel gritted his teeth at the idea. But Jaspar was right. It was the way Levy was put together and it was one of the reasons he loved her so much.
Jaspar lifted her ring from where he kept it safe in his pocket. He wasn't sure how but her ring was special. Truthfully the blue gem shouldn't be able to hold a magic like Gajeel's. His magic was more dark in color, like gray or black. But the metal sustaining the gem's setting must have made up for it. Perhaps Jaspar would have to consider metals when working with gems also. He would have to look at metal craft more. He was sure that someone like Yukino wouldn't want a dark colored gem for her setting. He could probably make something with a platinum band for Mikayla. If Rory didn't already have her dragon slayer gem he might have done something with an emerald on a gold setting for hers.
Rory took to constantly playing with her belly button ring. She no longer wore it. She had started tucking it into the pocket of her pants.
Laxus had researched for her, that thought still baffled her mind, and he told her she didn't have to take the piercing out yet. But he did tell her she couldn't play with the piercing. This was one of the reasons she took it out. She was pretty sure she would unintentionally play with it when she stroked her baby belly bulge and therefore it was just easier to remove temptation.
Rory wasn't sure why she hadn't told anyone yet about her pregnancy. It would be pretty obvious soon. But for some reason she just couldn't get herself to share the news with her Fairy Tail family. Something always seem to come up that she reasoned seemed more important in that moment.
Laxus, of course, wanted to shout the news from the rooftops. But growing to know Rory he reasoned it out that she needed time. So he let the subject drop and would only bring it up once a day rather then twenty times a day like he had initially in the beginning.
Right now definitely wasn't the time to bring it up either. Between helping Mikayla with her situation and the festivities going on... Well those things just seemed more important. Rory cast her eyes around the room. There seemed to be a few new couples forming. When her eyes stopped on Gray and Juvia she frowned slightly. Juvia sat beside Gray frowning while he seemed to be living in his own mind. That boy needs to get his shit together and realize his fuckin' feelings already.
You mean how I realized mine for you?
Rory sighed mentally but smiled in his direction. The pregnancy had made the two of them grow even closer, and they both realized that their hearts were finally accepting what the mating magic already knew. That the two of them loved each other.
Now if only Gray would realize he loved Juvia. Ice brained idiot!
Laxus chuckled at his mate. Firecracker.
Gray kept reliving the last few minutes in his head.
"It was a pleasant surprise that you participated."
How should he answer that without getting her hopes up? "I...I wasn't going to."
"Why did you then?"
It was rare that Juvia wasn't direct. But it made it hard to think. "Hell, I'm not sure what compelled me. The look in Lyon's eyes as this 'game' was announced bothered me. Then when he got in your line I suddenly was there also."
"Hmm, I bet I can guess which kiss was Lyon's." The smile that lit her face in that moment made Gray itch. It made his chest fill with rage and annoyance. "I bet he was the one that dipped me."
She paused and smirked Gray's direction. "He is a pretty good kisser." Gray clenched his fists so tightly the knuckles turned white before she continued her thought outwardly. "It wasn't his kiss that left me wanting more though."
Juvia seemed content to sit while Gray wandered through the memory of those moments. But she was getting annoyed just sitting there. She finally sighed and looked around the room. Lyon at least would talk to her. She might become annoyed with his affections rapidly but at least he would give her some attention.
Juvia stood up and smoothed out her skirt. She shifted her posture and started to walk away. She hadn't gotten but a foot away when she felt a hand grasp her arm.
"Don't go to him." Gray's voice was like gravel. But his eyes seemed a mixture of nervous and jealous.
"I am really not understanding this. You tell me not to go to him. You tell me not to leave Fairy Tail. You kiss me, and yet...yet you still leave me cold."
Gray dropped his grip from her arm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cold."
Juvia shook her head. "You misunderstand. You don't make me cold. Your demeanor does. You don't want me but yet no one else can have me either. How is that fair to anyone? It's not fair to me. It's not fair to Lyon. Hell, it's not even fair to yourself." Juvia felt the tears try to well up in her eyes but it was just easier to be annoyed and angry then to give in to the hurt and sadness. "I've showered you with attention and asked for none in return. But honestly, I don't think I can do it anymore."
"What?" Gray was baffled. What was she saying?
"You kissed me, Gray. It might have been part of a game but you kissed me, and it," Juvia paused to find the right words, "lit me up inside. After that simple kiss I just can't go back to feeling as hollow as I did before that kiss. I can't go on loving you and not feeling love in return." Juvia shook her head and walked away. He couldn't see how the tears started to shed on her face. He wouldn't see them. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her tears.
Juvia started walking the streets that would take her back to her apartment in Fairy Hills. The festivities around her became a blur as all she felt was sadness. She crossed her arms in front of herself and let the tears freely fall. It was pointless to wipe them away because they would soon absorb into her skin and replenish her body.
"I'm not built the same as you, you know?" His voice stopped her feet from walking another step. "I've had a lot of heart ache in my life. It's made it so... I don't tend to lead with my heart the way you do."
She didn't turn to look at him. But she did concede that this made sense and was true.
"I, it's hard to open up that way when I have been closed off for so long. I have never wanted this, never needed to feel this way."
Juvia turned to him. Her brow furrowed in confusion. The tears still welling in her eyes. "What way is that?"
Gray choked on his words as he took in her appearance. "See? All I do is make you cry.! I can't...I can't cope with that."
"You act as if tears are a hassle. I can tell you they aren't. It's good to cry when you are sad, lonely, and sometimes even happy. I'm not ashamed of my tears!"
Gray in that moment realized how even her tears made her strong. He needed to open up. He needed to make himself understand the tumultuous feelings that burned in his chest, and also get her to understand why it was so hard for him. "I can't explain how I feel. How can I when I don't completely understand it myself?"
Juvia glanced at the busy street around her. "Perhaps we should go somewhere more private to talk. I honestly forgot where we were." She met his side and grabbed his hand. She cupped his palm her fingers stretching around it. He flexed his fingers and changed how they were holding hands. He weaved his fingers through her own. Juvia looked down at the action. It surprised her and she had to bite her lower lip to keep from letting a huge smile light up her face. Gray still saw the birth of that smile though. How could one simple gesture make her so happy? How could making her happy make something burn in his own chest? Did making her happy make himself happy too? The woman was an enigma. But perhaps it was time to start trying to figure her out.
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