Erza's P.O.V.

"Well that takes care of that," I say as I finish off the last group of thugs, "But I better meet up with Natsu and the others before they worry too much."

I start my way through the city. I'm on a street where there seems to be a lot of kiosks, I suppose this is a festival of some sort.

"What's that?" I ask as I look over to a white, nicely decorated stand near a building... a bakery? They seem to be adverstising they're pasteries, "Uh!"

They have strawberry cake on special. It looks really well made too. Hm... I suppose one piece won't hurt anyone. Besides, I don't think the others need me at this very moment.

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Lucy's P.O.V.

"Where the heck is Erza?!" I call to Gray as I just barely avoid a magic attack to the face.

"I have no idea, but we could really use her help right now!" he answers, blocking a flame attack.

The guy who shot the flames at Gray was immediately punched out by Natsu.

"Who cares about her, we can handle these guys on our own!" he yells.

"Natsu, there's just too many of them, there's no way we can take them all on our own!" Wendy shouts and immediatly Sky Dragon Roars a gang of wizards.

"Don't be stupid Wendy, we can handle these wannabes!" Natsu yells back.

"No we can't, you fool!" Carla screeches while carrying a weakened Happy, "There's far too many, you can't take them all by yourselves!"

"Aye." Happy says weakly in her grasp.

"Whatever, if you wanna go find Erza, fine! I'll take care of these guys myself, then I'll definitely be able to prove my power to Erza!" he yells furiousely.

"Natsu, don't be such an idiot, we can't leave you here to fight on your own!" I yell.

"She's right! If we can just barely take 'em on without Erza, there's no way you'll be able to do it by yourself!" Gray shouts.

"Whatever! Erza or not, these punks are goin' down!" he yells and then sends a pack flying with a Fire Dragon Wing Attack.

•≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈•

Erza's P.O.V.

"Why, hello there! Interested in any of these sweets young lady?" says a middle-aged man, most likely the baker.

"Yes, I would like a piece of that strawberry cake, if you don't mind." I tell him.

"Of course, of course! You know what? I'll even give it to you on the house, my brother tells me you're quite fond of his cake, so I'll give you this for free since it's you're first time tasting mine." he says cheerfully.

"I see, so your brother is the baker in Magnolia?" I ask.

"That's right miss Erza. We had started this bakery here since it's our home town, but he wanted to travel abroad, so I gave him all my support in doing so, and I must say, he seems to be doing just as well there as here." he explains.

"That's very nice, well I'll be going then, thank you very much for the cake." I say, taking the cake and walking away.

"You can come by any time you want!" he calls. I wave back with the fork in my hand.

I take one bite of the cake, mmmmmm, it's just as good as his brother's. They sell the best cake I've ever had. I continue walking down the street, passing by stands for many things, jewelry, fruit, even hair accessories. I stop after a while, something catching my eye.

I turn to look to the left, there's an allyway near a games stand. And there's... a shadow somewhere inside. It's already dark as it is, but the shadow makes that general area look darker. It looks like a person, could it be another thug? Suddenly, the shadow disappeares from its original position and continues off into the darkness of the ally. I follow it as it trails along the path. It's fast; I have to run just to be able to keep up with it.

It turns at a corner, which already seems to be darker than this path. I slow my pace to a walk once I arrive there. It really is darker, but not that much. I look through the obscurity of the dead-ended ally-path. Where's that figure from before? He must be at the end of the path. Slowly walking through the darkness of the path, I take careful steps in order to not miss a single thing. Then I see a shadow moving in the corner. I throw my now empty plate to the side, making it shatter as it hits the wall, followed by the fork bouncing off the same wall and to the ground. I call forth a sword and point it to the shadow, at-the-ready for a fight.

"Who's there?!" I call, "Show yourself!"

The shadow just backs further into the corner.

"Who are you?!"

...

"Erza..."

I widen my eyes as I feel my heart beat slowing down, beating powerfully throughout my entire body. I reckongize that voice. I then hear metal clanging onto the ground as I notice I've lost my grip on my sword.

"J-Jellal..."

I keep staring at the shadow as it steps out of the corner, nearing closer to me. As it steps in the single beam of light, I can see the outline of a man. Blue, short hair from his head, as my gaze trails down to the right side of his face where the burgundy scar begins above his eye. It makes a strange design of a spade and ends as a curved double aero right above his eye brow. Another scar similar to the one above lies under his dark brown eye. It looks the same, only upside down. Then I look up again and stare into both of his eyes that are gazing back into mine as if looking for something.

"Jellal, what are you doing here?" I question almost nervously.

"Erza." he repeats and walks up to me leaving the beam of light, once again becoming a shadow, but only half this time because I can see him clearly in the dark.

Suddenly, I feel a hand against my head and another against my back jolting me against him, digging my face to his chest and keeping me pressed against him. I put my arms gently on his back as I look up with a look of disappointment and raise one eyebrow.

"What about your fiancé?" I ask sarcastically with a slight smirk.

"By now, I would've thought you'd figured out that I-"

"Lied?" I cut him off, finishing his sentence for him. I chuckle a bit, "I have. You were always a horrible liar. I could see through you every time." I imply.

He smiles back, in the dark I can faintly see his cheeks changing colour.

"Where's the rest of Crime Sorcière?" I ask.

"She's taking care of another job that's also here in this town. I heard your team was here, so I decided to come find you." he says casually, yet somewhat arrogantly as if I needed some sort of protection.

I smirk back at him.

"And why was that so necessary?" I ask teasingly.

He then lets go of me as I let go of him.

"I wanted to be sure you were safe." he smirks.

"I'm able to protect myself at full strength quite easily." I say.

He chuckles at that.

"As I saw." he replies.

"Is that really the only reason why you wanted to see me?" I question.

He chuckles slightly.

"Well, it's mostly because I haven't seen you in a while." he smiles.

I smile back at him. It's true, we haven't seen each other since the scene against the seven dragons.

For a while after, we just stood there quietly. Smiling and staring into each other's eyes, we enjoy each other's company. I've always loved Jellal, ever since we were children. He was so kind and gentle to me in the tower of heaven. When 'Zeref' had possessed him, I was depressed. I couldn't comprehend the fact that the person I cared about the most had turned evil. I'm glad that that's over with.

"How about Scarlet? That way I won't forget it, all I have to do is look at your pretty hair."

Yes, he even gave me my last name. It was inevitable that I'd trust him.

"It was the colour of your hair."

He even remembered me when he had lost his memory.

"I really did love you, Erza."

Even though when he said that, he wasn't in complete control of himself, it warmed me up inside. Knowing that he loved me too when I thought I would die. To know that he actually cared about me too before the end of my life... made me happy. I thought he only thought of me as a friend, but it seemed to be more after all. And after the night we almost kissed, I knew he still felt that way about me. However, he pushed me away because he wasn't sure I felt that way about him. And he didn't want to put me into any more pain than I already have. He didn't have to do that though. Either way, it was sweet of him. He always knew how to read the situation.

Suddenly, I remember the reason why I was here. I accpeted a job request with Natsu and the others. I was on my way to find them until I ran into Jellal. I better go find them, they must be wondering where I am by now.

"Is something wrong, Erza?" Jellal asks.

The expression on my face must've changed if he noticed I was concerned. I smile up to him reassuringly.

"No, everything's all right. I'm just sure the others are wondering where I am by now. And I'm sure Meldy is worried about you too."

"You're probably right." he responds, rubbing the back of his head.

"We better both be going now." I say, a bit dissapointed, "Until next time, Jellal."

I start walking the opposite direction, but am stopped when he grabs my upper arm. He pulls me towards him and grasps my other arm. He pulls me in tighter until he leans down, gently landing his lips on top of mine. He kisses me ever so sweetly as I kiss him back, one hand on his cheek, the other resting on his shoulder. Our eyes are closed as we cherish this moment... this beautiful moment. This sensation of being with him is truly wonderful.

We slowly break apart as we open our eyes and gaze into one another. We smile at one another before he disappears in a flash of light, leaving me alone in the ally.

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

I requip into my Knight armor and jump int the air, many swords spinning around me.

"Heaven's Wheel!" I shout, making the swords spin faster, "Scattered Petals!"

Each sword shoot themselves towards the enormous group of thugs, knocking out a good number of them.

"Erza!" I here Lucy and Wendy cheer in joy.

"Erza, what took you so long?" Gray asks, knocking out a few more wizards.

"I was attending other business," I answer casually as I finish off the last one, elbowing him in the forehead as I requip into my usual outfit.

"Well, it took you long enough. You're here now at least, and all the bandits are defeated." Carla says, carrying Happy in her arms.

"I'm sorry, I would've come sooner. I didn't know you were having so much trouble with them." I reply.

"Who says we were havin' trouble?" Natsu grunts.

I giggle a bit.

"Well, either way, we took care of all of them, how about we go get that reward?" I suggest.

"All right! Finally!" Lucy cheers.

Everyone starts walking towards the home of the client, chatting and bickering a bit along the way. Before I follow, I turn around looking back from where I came from, enjoying the light breaze passing by me.

"Until we meet again... Jellal."

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Jellal's P.O.V.

"Ready to go?" Meldy asks.

I nod in reply as she walks ahead of me. Before I follow, I turn around...

"You've grown strong, Erza."

The two souls often travel different directions, going on many adventures, but when they happen to bump into each other, they cherish every moment they're in each other's presence. The love story of two warriors ends here, but there's far more to come for the two beings.

JeRza one-shot