21 - You have beautifulness everywhere
After almost going to jail, we could chill, and just have fun. But though we did that, we were anxiously awaiting the news deep down. A week later, it came. On the TV, it was announced that Zeref was trying to shut down our school and he's now in jail for a long period of time. What was a bigger shock was that he said that it was his guardian who told him what to do. Apparently, a guy called Acnologia adopted Zeref when he was younger because he wanted a puppet to tame to mess with the world so he could get money and power. The story was also out that Zeref (and in turn, Acnologia) got paid by the teachers of Alvarez when Zeref told them about how he would take down Fairy tail Uni for them and then he did. The police tried to find Acnologia but mysteriously, he disappeared without a trace.
On top of that, we found out by news and email that our school would remain open because they were innocent since the bad results and alcohol and drugs in the teachers' offices were all set up by Zeref. We were also given our real exam results and we all did really well (so we celebrated at the club again).
Right now, we were visiting the prison because Natsu wanted to talk to Zeref so we went for moral support. We were all sitting on a bench outside the building, waiting for Natsu to come back out after his visit. I sat next to Jellal, listening to him talking to the others but I kept peeking over at Mavis. She looked like she really wanted to go see Zeref but at the same time she didn't want to. I think she should but maybe she didn't want the others to know.
"Natsu," Lucy announced, standing up.
Walking out of the prison was Natsu. He nodded at us in greeting and sat on the bench with us, his fiance joining him back on the seat.
"So, how was it?" Lucy asked him hesitantly.
Natsu looked thoughtful for a moment. "It was... alright. He explained everything to me – how he didn't want to leave me at the orphanage but we were both really young at that time. I don't even remember him. Then he told me how he tried looking for me and joined Fairy Tail High when he found out that I went there. He did everything Acnologia told him to since he was his guardian and he didn't have any other choice. Now he wants to get to know me and be my brother."
There was silence as no one knew what to say.
"I don't know what to do," Natsu continued when no one else spoke. "Should I keep visiting him?"
Then he turned to me, conflict swimming in his eyes. "Erza, you reconnected with your mum. How did you forgive her?"
Indeed, the day after we almost went to prison, I went to see my mum and talked with her over some lunch. We agreed that we would start fresh and take it slow. Over the past few days, we hung out a bit and talked about our past that we missed out on. She was especially happy to hear about Jellal and our wedding coming soon and she loved teasing me about him.
"I think they're different situations though since Zeref did worse things than my mum. But I forgave her because she proved to me that she was trying her best to be my mum again. She would always want to talk to me and see me but I didn't want to and then she bailed us from jail and saved us. I guess that was the point that I realised that I should try and forgive her," I said truthfully. "With Zeref though, that's up to you. Maybe see him again and hear him out but it might take some time."
Natsu nodded his head, contemplating. Meanwhile, Gajeel stood up and stretched, whining about being hungry. We decided we would eat out together and as we stood up to go, Mavis spoke up.
"I need to go to the toilet," Mavis abruptly said.
"Don't worry, we're going to the cafe now," Gray said.
Mavis fidgeted her hands and glanced at the prison, biting her lip. "I really need to go now. I'll just use the one at the prison. You guys go on ahead and I'll meet you at the cafe."
Before anyone could say anything, she dashed off to the jail, her long, blonde hair whipping in the wind behind her. My friends watched her go, confused about her strange behaviour.
"Was it just me or was she acting weird?" Natsu wondered. "And besides, the cafe's not too far from here. Why did she suddenly need to go just then and why not before? Who suddenly needs to pee just like that?"
"Don't question people's need to go to toilet, Natsu. It's not nice," I scolded him, whacking him lightly on the shoulder.
I started walking away and everyone joined me. While they probably didn't know what was going on with Mavis, I had a pretty good guess. I've always known that she still loves Zeref so she would've wanted to see him. From what I've seen, Zeref also cares for her so I hope their meeting goes well.
We had a nice long lunch at a nearby cafe and Mavis arrived 20 minutes after we started eating. Luckily, no one questioned why she took so long. Once that was done, we all went shopping, though some of the others protested against it. When we were exploring a clothes store, I saw my chance to talk to Mavis. I wanted to ask how it went with Zeref so when I saw her looking at a clothes rack by herself, I decided to approach her.
"Hey Mavis," I started. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second – about you-know-who."
Mavis' eyes darted left and right. "I guess so. Can we talk outside though?"
I nodded. We made sure our friends were still in the shop and then we sneaked out, sitting outside another shop a bit further down in the shopping centre. Getting comfortable, we prepared ourselves for the expected conversation.
"So, how was seeing Zeref?" I asked, telling myself not to fire multiple questions at once.
"It was... better than I expected," Mavis said, a smile appearing on her face as she seemed to be remembering her visit. "He showed the kindness he once had and he apologised to me. I can tell he's still troubled and doesn't know what to do but he told me about how he still loves me and wants to be with me. He was hesitant in revealing his feelings and I think that's why it was more real."
"Then you'll be visiting him a lot?"
"Yeah, I hope so. Maybe we'll get together again, I don't know. For now, we're just taking it slow. It's still a bit hard to forget all the bad things he's done because he hasn't done anything good to make up for them but I think I'm slowly forgiving him."
"I remember when I forgave Jellal after the bad things he did and it took a while but we've come so far now. I really hope you guys work it out because I've seen how much you guys care about each other. It might take some time but I'm sure you guys can be happy together," I said.
"Thank you, Erza. Thank you for everything. I'm glad I met you and became your friend – and the same goes for all the others as well. You guys have been such great friends to me," Mavis told me.
"Don't say such sweet things like that. You're going to make me cry."
We ended up laughing and then we decided to go back to our friends. The others didn't mention our disappearance and we spent the rest of the day having fun in the shops.
Time flew by so fast like the Flash and more than a year had passed. It was a stressful third year of university and we all worked hard to finish university. To celebrate finishing our degree, we had a huge party with most of our classmates and then we had a New Year party after our third year (and one after our second year too). Of course, we spent some time throughout the year to party, go to clubs and have fun. Gray, true to his word, proposed to Juvia with a huge artistic display that was really beautiful, and fireworks. So now, we were all grown up (kind of), finished university, looking for jobs and engaged to people. We've all come so far in life and it's pretty crazy when I look back at all the years that have gone by.
Today was a special day – Jellal and I's six year anniversary. I finished my part time job at the cafe shortly after lunch and then I went to hang out with the girls at Lucy and Natsu's new apartment. In the evening, I was going to have a date with Jellal, which he was going to surprise me with so I had no idea what we would be doing.
Lucy and Natsu's new apartment was close to our house and they bought it near the end of university. Similarly, Gray and Juvia bought an apartment closeby and so did Gajeel and Levy.
I knocked on the door to my friend's apartment and was greeted by Lucy.
"Erza! Come on in. Everyone's here already," Lucy ushered me in.
I followed into her new home and we entered the living room, where Juvia, Levy and Mavis lounged on the couch. We started our girls time by just eating snacks and chatting about things that we've been doing. While we talked, we played with Lucy and Natsu's cat called 'Happy'. They got a cat a few months ago and he was so cute. Gajeel also really wanted a cat so he got one, which he named 'Panther Lily'.
As I talked with Mavis about her new job with statistics or something like that, I reflected on what she's done in the past year and a bit. The rest of the girls and I had a normal, uneventful third year of university but Mavis kept me up to date with her weekly visits to Zeref. She had gotten closer to Zeref again and he had started to open up more, showing his kindness. I was really happy for her and I hoped that their relationship would strengthen over time.
Like Mavis, Natsu also visited Zeref regularly, though he was hesitant at first so didn't go for a while. But now, they're slowly getting to a stage where Natsu doesn't always want to punch Zeref. It will probably take them longer to act like brothers but that's understandable.
After chatting, the girls and I watched a rom-com – a traditional thing to do on a girls day. The movie was short and once that was over, we relaxed and just talked some more as we finished an ice-cream tub together.
"So, Erza," Lucy passed me the ice-cream. "Your wedding's going to be first. When are you going to start preparing for it? And when will it be?"
I thought for a bit while I took the cold dessert and scooped some into my mouth. "I really want a spring wedding so maybe some time in October, which gives us at least six months. As for planning, well, I was hoping you guys would like to start helping me plan next week."
Levy clapped her hands excitedly. "That's great. I can't wait!"
"Then you shouldn't be having too much ice-cream," Juvia said, snatching the tub from my hands. "You need to keep a nice shape."
I stared at her. First of all, no one takes dessert from me. Secondly, I was going to eat as much dessert and food I want even if I have a wedding coming up. Glaring at Juvia, I took back the ice-cream and ate a big spoonful.
"Fine," Juvia sighed. "You can do what you want."
"I will, thank you very much," I huffed, my mouth still full of ice-cream.
As I spoke, some ice-cream dribbled out of my mouth and I quickly wiped it up with a tissue. Juvia snorted and then everyone burst into a fit of giggles. It was always nice to play around and have fun with all my friends.
Soon, the clock reminded me of the time and I had to go back home to meet Jellal for our date. I said good bye to the girls and I went back to my house.
"Jellal," I called out as I entered the living room.
Strangely, he wasn't there as I expected so I went into the kitchen to get some food and I saw Jellal standing at the kitchen bench.
"Happy 6th anniversary, Erza," he greeted me.
Jellal walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek, making me smile as I blushed.
"Happy anniversary to you too," I replied. "Now, what are you doing in the kitchen? We both know that that always leads to disaster."
"I am offended," Jellal pretended to be hurt as he put his hand to his heart.
I raised my eyebrow at him and he cracked a grin.
"I'm kidding," Jellal said. "But, that's why, for our anniversary date, we're going to make a cake – well, you'll teach me how to make a nice cake."
"So, I'm doing most of the work?" I joked.
Jellal pouted.
He soon got excited about our task today and so we got started on the vanilla sponge cake. I instructed Jellal on what to do and he would do his part while I did mine. I don't know how he could ever make food so bad since he was doing really well today. Probably because I was here telling him what to do. As I looked at Jellal to compliment him on his skills, I saw that he poured in too much flour.
My eyes widened in alarm. "What are you doing? I told you how much you were meant to do already."
"I just thought it needed more flour since the bowl didn't seem full enough and flowers are always nice so..." Jellal trailed off.
I sighed but though I acted disappointed, I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face.
"Here, let me help," I said.
Jellal seemed to appreciate my assistance, being the respectful and supporting fiance that he always is. He moved aside while I fixed the proportions in our cake batter. Then I got him to start mixing it. However, I saw that he wasn't doing it efficiently so I wrapped my hand around his and helped him do it well. He scooted closer to me and I could smell his cologne. I sucked in a breath, trying to concentrate on stirring.
We successfully managed to finish the main part of making the cake and it was now in the oven. I also managed to not turn bright red during that time. However, I think that was going to change.
"You've got some cake on you," Jellal told me.
My fiance came up to me slowly and use his thumb to wipe some batter off the corner of my lip.
"It – um – it must have splattered there when we were mixing it," I stuttered, failing to stop my blush.
I unconsciously licked my lips, where a tingling feeling remained from where his thumb had touched.
"You've got something else there too," Jellal said.
In one swift move, he captured my mouth with his, the familiar warmth surprising me. He ended the kiss just as quickly, leaving me wanting more.
"What was that?" I breathed. "That was so cheesy – like a scene from a movie or something."
"Sorry, it's just that you had beautifulness on your lips. Oh wait, you have beautifulness everywhere. Should I kiss you everywhere?" Jellal looked at me seductively.
I coughed. "Okay, that was even more cheesy. And no, we have things to do. We need to do the icing and prepare the decorations for the cake."
I don't know how I managed to say that seriously but I did and I was proud of myself. Besides, we had all of tonight to make out, flirt and do things in bed.
We still had lots of fun making the icing – and making a mess too. When the cake was ready, we took it out of the oven and decorated it with strawberry icing, fruits and other decorations. Once we were done, we took a picture of it and sent it to our friends group chat since it looked really nice. As for the taste, well, we'll have to see.
"Do you want to try it first?" I asked Jellal.
"Okay," Jellal agreed.
We cut the cake into slices and then Jellal scooped up a small piece from his slice. He carefully put it into his mouth, chewed and then swallowed. I observed his face the whole time and I watched as it morphed into surprise and delight.
Jellal let out a moan as he ate more and more, seeming really into it.
"This is delicious!" Jellal exclaimed.
"Really?" I asked excitedly.
A little part of me still doubted the cake but I believed Jellal. I took my fiance's spoon and took some cake from my slice. The second it was in my mouth, I let out a hum of satisfaction. Jellal was right – it tasted delicious. I couldn't get enough of it so I had another piece. It was like the cake was bought from the store.
"See? I'm improving my cooking, aren't I?" Jellal asked.
"Would you be able to make something this good without me here?" I responded.
"Would you have cake on your face without me here?"
I looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"
He suddenly grinned. Then he used his finger to get some cake and smudge it onto my cheek. My eyes widened. Okay, fine. If this is what he wants, then this is what he gets. Fast as lightning, I grabbed a handful of our cake and smashed it into his face. I was considering smashing the whole thing but I wanted to save some and eat it later on.
I laughed out loud at the sight of pink and white staining my fiance's beautiful face. He wiped some off and ate it, nodding his head at the nice taste.
"Delicious," he commented.
Then he looked at me and I knew I was doomed. He took the flour and dumped the bag on my head. Luckily, I closed my eyes when I saw his hand reaching for the bag but the feeling was still horrible. Flour coated my whole figure and my face was most likely white as a ghost. I coughed and cleaned my face briefly. The one thing I was glad about was that he didn't use the rest of the cake since I wanted to eat it. However, that wasn't going to stop me from continuing our war.
"You are going down," I stated threateningly.
My eyes quickly scanned the table and I spotted some eggs. I smashed them against his head and he was stunned as the sliminess dripped down his face. My laughter was cut short when Jellal quickly responded by throwing the sugar at me. The food fight continued until there was no more food left on the table except for the rest of our strawberry cake. I stared at the mess – it was going to take forever to clean up.
"Truce?" I asked Jellal.
"Truce," he agreed.
"Okay, let's clean the kitchen now."
Jellal nodded but didn't make a move. We both just stood still, staring at each other, neither of us commencing the dreadful chore. Finally, I sighed.
"I hate you," I grumbled as I squatted down and started picking up the rubbish and broken egg shells on the floor.
"No, you don't. You love me," Jellal said as he crouched down to where I was on the floor.
I looked at him. His face was inches from mine, staring straight at me with his cute and charming smile that I loved. He just looked at me, making me pause in my task of picking up the eggs. My fiance's handsome face wouldn't turn away and his puppy dog eyes were begging me to respond.
I sighed. "Yes, you know I love you."
"And I love you too," Jellal replied, finally satisfied.
"Yes, I know... Now hurry up and let's clean this quickly so I can eat dinner."
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So, I deeply apologise for my writing skills just plummeting to the floor. To be honest, I'm kind of not really feeling this story anymore, well, I am a bit but not a lot. But I will try hard, I have a direction for this story and I will finish it. Feedback is more than welcome. Thank you for still reading it! Please VOTE and COMMENT!
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