"I didn't know what to do with myself, those days," Erza spoke, her tone quiet yet loud in the silence of the forest. The rustling of the leaves were soft in the background. "But when I found Fairy Tail, my freedom, I managed to put one foot in front of the other until I was able to walk with my head held high." She shifted from her position of leaning against a large tree, next to him, to make herself more comfortable.
Again, silence. The cool breeze of the late autumn night was enough to chill the mage, but she kept her complaints to herself as she watched the emotional range of Jellal's face change. Going from remembering nothing to everything had to hurt. When Erza began to tell her tale, their tale, he hadn't the faintest idea what to think. Halfway through her story, he began to ask more questions, fill in areas of his mind. When she finished, when her story moved past his, away from the Tower of Heaven, he could imagine hazy scenarios involving himself that he wasn't sure he wanted to remember.
A hand on her shoulder stilled her, and she held her breath in case he was to speak.
"Requip to something where I can feel you, Erza," Jellal said with a frown. "This armor gives me no opportunity to be close with you."
"Armor is supposed to protect, not draw those in closer for comfort," she responded. Still, she requipped to her casual outfit; without the armor working as a barrier, she was even colder now. Jellal, noticing this, removed his coat to place around her shoulders for warmth.
"Is that better?"
"Thank you," she replied, taken back by the kind gesture.
"Is it all… better?" Jellal asked slowly. "Now, I mean."
"In what way?"
"Are you… happier?"
"Of course. What kind of question is that?"
"I, uh, well… I mean, being here with me. Is it alright?"
Erza turned, noticing his awkwardness. She found it endearing, different. Smiling, she nodded and said, "It's more than alright. I've… always held you in a special place of my heart, so being here, with no hostility or devastation, is very nice."
"That's good," he nodded, taking her hand in his. "Because what I'm going to do might have you either destroying me or running for the hills."
"What—"
In an instant, he had pulled her to him, slamming his lips against hers. Erza's lips were soft, impossibly soft, but willing. She was confused, but for once this confusion was in a good way, mixed with many emotions. She wanted the moment to last.
"The others could come looking for us," Erza breathed, pulling away.
"They won't," Jellal replied.
"How do you know?"
"Stay with me for a while." Without giving her a chance to reply he asked for a favor, "Can i borrow your lap?"
Feeling a little bit nervous, Erza touched her lap to make the soft clapping sound, directing his head to the position. Jellal found himself with his back to the Earth staring up at the beauty which was Titania. The moonlight across her milky skin, her scarlet hair—that hair which he had fallen in love with first in order to give her the name she now carried with her—made her a breathtaking sight.
"How has no other taken you away?" he asked, reaching his fingers to her scarlet hair.
"What?" she tilted her head to the side cutely.
He smiled. "Bluntly, how are you still single? "
"Oh that." She doesn't know what to answer, for she herself, doesn't usually open her consciousness to something called "love". He pinched her nose to catch her attention,but she failed to notice this because of her gloomy aura.
"No one has expressed interest. I don't take kindly to those fools."
"You say that while I gawk at you and am charmed by you. Are you sure I'm not the same?"
From her melancholic face, her blood rushes to her cheeks. She blushed even more when Jellal, to her surprise, leaned down towards her face. She pinched his nose in return.
"Now we're even."
Her eyes were sparkling like the stars, more beautiful than the stars and her hair danced with the wind. He had seen nothing more beautiful. True freedom.
"If I snatch a kiss, will you snatch it back?" Jellal said, leaning in closer.
"There's a difference between a kiss and a pinch, idiot!"
He responded with a smile, not saying a word.
