Erza smiled as she counted up all the gold coins she had successfully swiped. Her plan had worked perfectly. It had almost been too easy. Though she had to give props to that one guard who managed to figure out her fallen tree trick. Usually it took the other guards about an hour to see that it was a distraction. She pocketed the money into the satchel attached to her belt and started toward the house of a family she knew of. 

The man who lived there was called Alzack, a hard working blacksmith who had a wife and a young daughter. Recently the child had become very ill so the couple had been saving up all their money to buy her proper medicine. They had just saved enough when Princess Lucy's tax collector came by and stole every coin they had. The couple had tearfully begged on their knees for the tax collector not to take the money. Telling them that their daughter would surely die without it but the collector just cruelly laughed in their faces. Erza had witnessed this wicked display and would not allow such an act of injustice take place. 

She approached the house and knocked on the door. It was answered by Alzack's wife Bisca. 

"Hello Erza." She said. "May I help you?"

"Is your husband here?" Erza asked.

"No. He left. He went into town to see if he could find some better work. One that paid more."

"When he comes back tell him that he doesn't have to keep searching." 

"What do you mean?"

Erza then stuck her hand into her satchel and gave Bisca the exact amount of money that had been taken from her by the tax collector. The green haired woman couldn't help but be awestruck by the sight of gold.

"Where on earth did you get this?" She asked.

"The tax collector's coach."

"You stole it?"

"It's not stealing if it rightfully belongs to you. That man took more than what was required and he knew it. I hope I got the right amount that you needed."

Bisca counted the coins.

"Yes you did. This is just what we need to get Asuka's medicine."

"Good."

"Oh Erza I don't know what to say. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. But I better get out of here before someone sees me and snitches."

"Good luck to you Erza. My husband and I will both be praying for you."

The two women shared a friendly embrace and parted ways so Erza could return home unnoticed. She lived in a small cottage in the forest which had previously belonged to a woodcutter. He moved out and left it to no one so Erza decided to make it her new home. To some it wasn't much but to Erza it was perfect. Warm, safe, near to a stream of fresh water, fertile soil to start a garden, and hidden from Princess Lucy's guards. She had become sort of an outlaw recently so she had to start living a very discreet life. She only left the forest to rob the tax collector who would take an unfair amount of money from starving peasants. She would then give the money back and be on her merry way.

It was a simple life but a lonely one from time to time. She cherished the moments when she made a friend loyal enough to keep her whereabouts hidden from the princess like Alazack and his family. But sadly she couldn't stay and converse long for fear of getting them into trouble with her majesty. 

When she arrived back home she decided to rest for a moment and later in the afternoon she had a craving for strawberries. So she grabbed a basket and went into the woods to pick wild strawberries from a bush she knew that grew. It was very sunny and calm, a perfect day to be out walking and the bush she went to grew just a little ways from another village. It couldn't be seen due to the tall trees but it could be heard. She could hear people talking, going about their business, even having a few occasional festivities. 

When she found the strawberry bush she proceeded to fill her basket. But stopped upon hearing music coming from the village. They must've been having another harvest festival. Oh how she wished that she could join in the fun but she couldn't risk exposing herself. She remembered a time when she could attend such exciting occasions and her favorite thing to at those events were always to dance. 

At the christening celebrating her birth many years ago, fairies had been invited to give her magical gifts. Among one of them and her personal favorite was the gift to dance to perfection. The gift granted her graceful movements that could match any music or rhythm perfectly with ease. According to many people who had watched her, there was no lovelier or more passionate dancer in all of Fiore.

Without realizing it she found herself closing her eyes, getting swept up in the music that came from the village, and dancing to her heart's desire. She moved so elegantly and divinely. It was a sin that no one was around to witness such grace. But in truth there was someone there to witness it. Someone who had managed to follow the tracks left but Erza's horse and later her own shoes. At last he found her and for a moment could not resisting awing at her dance. But then he remembered his mission and decided to take advantage of the fact that she had yet to notice his presence.  

As she was performing a twirl that made her look like she was floating on air, he crept up behind her, gently grabbed her in his arms, and said in a teasing manner:

"May I have this dance?"

Her eyes flashed open and she broke away from the man she recognized as the guard she assaulted earlier. 

"You?!" She gasped.

"I told you I'd find you." He chuckled. "No matter what you do I will always find you."

She tried to run but when she did she suddenly lost the ability to stand and fell down.

"What the?!" She then became aware of the cuff on her wrist. The one he had slipped on when he grabbed her.

"I wouldn't try to run if I were you." He said. "Because if you do that enchanted cuff will just cause you to trip over yourself. And uh don't bother trying to take it off because only I can remove it."

"Is this the only way you can catch a woman? By pulling a dirty trick like this?" She asked in annoyance.

"It's the only way to catch thieving scum. Although I must admit most of thieves I've caught aren't nearly as attractive."

"Flirty and arrogant." She snipped. "You could almost pass for a prince."

"And you could almost pass for a lady."

"What is that supposed to mean? Are you insulting me?"

"Quite right my apologies. How dare I cast dispersion at the person who hit me in the face with a rock."

"Yes and I'll do it again if you don't get this cuff off me!"

"Gladly. After you return what you've stolen from the coach."

"Yeah not gonna happen."

"Oh is that a fact?"

"Yes."

"Fine have it your way. I'll just turn you over to Princess Lucy. Word on the street is she's looking for a thief. One with long red hair, now who do we know that fits that description?"

"You wouldn't dare."

With a smirk he grabbed her and put her on top his shoulder, carrying her back to his waiting horse.

"Put me down!" She demanded kicking him. "Put me down this instant!"

"Hey if you had just given back the coins you had taken I would have let you be but you just had to be stubborn."

"I'll scream." She said. "There's a village near here! The people will hear me! And what do you think they'll all assume when they see you carrying off a defenseless woman?"

"Oh please you're bluffing. You won't cry for help because that would risk someone alerting the princess of where you are. Lady I'm not as dumb as you think."

She groaned at how smart he was. 

"Okay how about this? Put me down or I kick you so hard in the face that you'll be spitting your teeth out."

"I'll take my chances. I've been told that I have strong teeth."

"Ugh! Fine! But you can't turn me over to Lucy!"

"Sure I can. I'm doing it right now."

"You don't understand! She'll kill me!"

"For petty theft? I don't think so."

"You don't know her! She's a monster!"

"I'm sure she is." He said sarcastically.

"Have you ever met her?"

"No not really."

"Okay then you have no idea what she's like!"

"She's a princess. I doubt she's much of a threat. Her father maybe but her?"

"Oh what is it with you people thinking that a princess can't be evil?" She said. "Wait can't we work something out?"

"Certainly. Give me back the gold and I release you."

"I can't give it back okay? But...But maybe I can give you some to replace it."

He stopped walking.

"Can you really?" He asked.

"Yes I can."

"How? You're a thief. Thieves don't exactly have the means to provide gold except by stealing it and I won't stoop to that."

"I have something that I can sell for the exact amount of gold that I took. And I didn't steal it. It's mine. I'll go with you to the market and we can sell it."

"You wouldn't lie to me would you?"

"No. I'm not lying. I swear."

"Very well." He put her down. "Let's go to the market then shall we?"

"Hold it! First I need to go home to get this thing and to get a disguise so no one will recognize me."

"Fair enough but you won't mind if I go with you right?"

"Doesn't it matter if I do or don't you're just going to follow me anyway."

"Correct so don't get any ideas about trying to ditch me."

"Wouldn't dream of it. I need you to get this cuff off me remember?"

She started walk back home with the young man following close behind.

"I'm Jellal by the way." He introduced.

"So?" She said.

"So what's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Well if we're going to be acquaintances for the day we might as well know what to call each other."

She hesitated before speaking again but eventually complied.

"Erza. My name is Erza."

"Nice name." He said. "It means strength in the heart."

"Funny I've only met a few people who know that."

"Let's just say knowing the importance of a name was something I had to educate myself on growing up."

"Was that along with knowing how to irritate people?"

"My what poor manners this woman has." Jellal thought. He couldn't imagine any woman being so rude. The women he was always around had been taught from birth to always be polite and respectful. Then again this woman obviously wasn't of royalty or nobility. Still he thought that even peasant woman could have at least some manners. 

"Can't wait til this is over and done with." He said. "The sooner I get away from you the better."

"Ditto." She said.

...

Nasha and Greige weren't too happy about seeing a therapist when Elkis first told them.

"You think we're crazy?" Nasha said.

"Of course not but I do think that you two have some emotional baggage and I believe a therapist can help you work through it." She said.

"But how do you know this guy isn't a quack or something?" Greige asked. "What if he makes us sound like we're nuts and has us shipped off to the cooku-cooku hut?"

"First of all those are called psychiatric wards not cooku-cooku huts. And second the won't happen because you're not nuts. This man is a professional and he's very sensible. Even Gazeel likes him and he doesn't like anyone."

"He likes the school librarian." Greige said.

"How do you know that?" Nasha asked.

"He cleans the library like three times a day and the whole time he does it he stares at her butt."

"Greige!" Elkis said. "Don't say things like that."

"Well it's true. Does he honestly think that nobody notices when he does that?"

"Greige enough and don't ever mention that again."

"Hey I'm not the perv here. He is."

"On a different subject." Elkis said. "I promise you both that you have nothing to fear from Dr. Fernandes."

"So what are we supposed to say to the guy?" Nasha asked.

"You can say anything you want. Just be honest."

They got into her car and drove down to the office of Dr. Siegrain Fernandes . The three of them sat in the waiting room and about five minutes later a young man with blue hair and a tattoo over his eye stepped out.

"Elkis Scarlet?" He called.

"Yes that's me." She said walking over to greet him. "Thank you so much for seeing us Dr. Fernandes. It's really important that-"

But she became speechless when her eyes met with the doctor's. In that moment they both stood there completely motionless. Staring at each other as if in a trance. The two suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity. As if they already knew each other so well and were just meeting again after what seemed like an eternity.

"Uh hello? Earth to adults?" Nasha said which snapped them out of it.

"What? Oh sorry!" Siegrain said. "Sorry about that. I...I haven't had my morning coffee yet so forgive me if I seem a little dazed."

"I haven't had mine either." Elkis said. "So um these are my kids Nasha and Greige. I understand that you'll be seeing them one at a time?"

"Yes. I will."

"Who's first?"

"How about Miss Nasha?"

"Alright then. Nasha you behave yourself and I'll be back for you in an hour." Elkis said. "Come on Greige let's go to the diner so I can get a coffee. I'll buy you a hot chocolate while we're at it."

"Sweet." The boy said.

Elkis left the office taking Greige with her. Nasha noticed that the therapist's eyes completely guled to her foster mother until she was out of sight. 

"Ahem!" She coughed. "Are we doing this or what?"

"Oh right! Again sorry. Right this way." And he lead her into the room where he held his sessions.