Everything Fairy Tail

Normally, he would probably be trying to figure out a way to escape from this cage without anyone noticing. He didn’t even attempt to this time. It wasn’t because it was impossible with the magic seals. He just didn’t feel it was right.

Ever since he had been brought back to life, things had been weird. It was as if he was in a daze. It didn’t help that he couldn’t remember anything about his past.

Well, nothing except her. Erza Scarlet. That was the only thing he remembered. But the only memory was of him giving her a new last name. And even then, it wasn’t much. He didn’t remember where they were. He couldn’t even remember if anyone else was around. It was all white, except for her.

Jellal closed his eyes tight. Maybe if he thought long and hard, he would be able to remember more. He wanted to - no, he needed to remember. Why had Erza been so shocked when he saw her again? It wasn’t just because he had come back to life. There was something more.

And then there was the other girl, Wendy, whom he had presumably rescued ages ago. He wanted to remember that. He felt terrible for telling her he didn’t remember any of their interactions.

No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t remember anything. It was like his thoughts were locked up somewhere deep inside, not wanting to be released from its prison. Much like how Jellal felt in his physical prison.

This was for the best, he kept telling himself. So long as he was locked up, he couldn’t bring any harm to Erza. He couldn’t hurt anyone, unlike what he had apparently done previously.

How many people had he hurt? Tens? Hundred? Thousands? He willed that the last one was not true. If he hurt thousands of people, he didn’t know how he would cope. How does anyone go on, knowing that they hurt someone?

It didn’t matter. He was locked up now, and he couldn’t hurt anyone else from his current location. This was for the best.

***

A week had passed since Jellal was taken as prisoner by the Magic Council, but the pain in Erza’s heart was still there, strong as ever. She wondered if it would ever go away.

Sure, he had hurt her and all of her closest friends in the past, but she could tell that he was different. He was changing. He had helped them defeat the Oracion Seis. Without him, they might have all been dead. But he kept them afloat. He even gave Natsu a boost during his battle against Zero, or so she was told by the dragon slayer himself.

So why did they have to imprison him for things he did a long time ago, that he didn’t even remember? Maybe she would never understand that.

Still, she carried on, acting strong around everyone. She didn’t let any of them see that she was hurting. After all, that’s why she wore armor, right?

But at night, when she was alone in her room, and the armor came off, she would break down crying. Her dreams did not help any, as most of them were of their childhood friendship before he had turned evil.

A few times, she heard some foreign words in her dreams - words that she never heard him say before, but it was definitely his voice. “They’ve gone too far. What did she do to deserve this?!”

It was like she was trapped in a prison. One where she could never get away from the pain of Jellal. Their childhood friendship, that was ruined because of some unknown spell. What he did to her many years ago, and even more recently at the Tower of Heaven. Watching him be taken away. There was no escape from it at night. Even though she was not in a prison physically, she was in her own mental and emotional one with this boy always on her mind.