From Rags to Royalty [Jellal x Erza]

The Daughter of a Shop Owner

Eleven Years Ago . . .

Erza's P.O.V.
Sixteen years old

"Erza, hurry up or you'll be late for school!" My dad yells from downstairs.

I rush to put my notebooks and textbooks into my backpack. I probably won't have time to make any breakfast, but at least the school serves free food.

Once my backpack is on, I look in the mirror and put my hair into a high ponytail. Then I run downstairs before my dad can yell at me again.

"Bye, dad." I call to him as I speed walk to the entrance.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He raises his voice to get my attention. I turn around to see him with his arms out. "No goodbye hug?"

I do as he wants and give him his goodbye hug before I leave the shop.

My parents own a weaponry shop. The most famous weaponry shop in Magnolia. We sell swords for soldiers who fight in wars and guns which are available to everybody.

The shop is called Front Line. It isn't far from my school, Magnolia High School, so I walk to school everyday.

I'm in the eleventh grade which means I have one more year until I finally graduate high school.

I don't exactly know what I want to do after high school, but my dad insists that I take over the shop if nothing else.

I make it to class just in time, literally two seconds before the bell rang. I take in deep breaths to even out my breathing since I ran to school at full speed.

Note to self: When the alarm goes off, beat the Sandman over the head with the clock.

Once I sit down in my seat, my stomach growls. Great, I didn't even have time to get any food. I sigh and put my head on the cold desk.

"Erza, what's the matter?" I lift my head off the desk to see my best friend Kagura turned in her desk, facing me.

Kagura and I have been friends since the sixth grade. I had just moved into Magnolia at that time and was the new kid.

And nobody wants to be friends with the new kid.

Except Kagura. Well, actually we were paired together for a project after my first week in school and that's how we started talking.

We've been friends ever since.

"I'm having a bad morning." I mumble.

"Here." She holds out a banana for me to take, which I do.

"Thanks." I start to peal the banana. "You're a life saver."

I'm halfway through my banana when Angel shouts at me.

"Hey Crimson, could you hand me that magazine under your desk?"

Just so you know, Angel and I have never been on good terms. For some reason she doesn't like me. Not that I care. I didn't wake up to impress her.

And for some reason she doesn't like being called by her first name so she gave herself a nickname: Angel.

She claims that she's a sweet little angel.

But I can see the evil in her eyes. It's in there waiting for the perfect time to show itself.

I reach down and pick up a magazine that is indeed under my desk. On the cover is our kingdom's current prince, Prince Jellal.

The headline reads: 'Fiore's Prince Seeks a Wife?'

I suppose it is time for him to get married. I've read books about how the royal families conduct marriage in order to keep the bloodline wealthy.

Princes and Princesses are usually married off around sixteen or seventeen because they have to be married before they can take the throne.

Honestly, I couldn't imagine doing something like that. I'd feel like I was a slave rather than an actual person.

My thoughts are interrupted when the magazine is snatched from my hands. I look up to see Angel standing over me.

"Jeez, I told you to hand it to me not daydream!" Then a smirk appears on her face. "Don't tell me you've fallen for the Prince? Not to worry, hun, he would never be interested in someone dull like you." With that being said, Angel walks away with the magazine tightly gripped in her hand.

I know I shouldn't let her words affect me, but she does have a point. Princes don't fall for the lower class. That kind of stuff only happens in fairy tales.

Not that I'm interested. All rich people are cocky and arrogant. They think that just because they have money that they can treat others however they please and that anyone else with less money is beneath them.

I am appalled that such people exist in this world.

If I were fortunate to have such power, I would change the way these social classes are set up. That way no one feels inferior to another.

But the richest people in a kingdom are the royal family. It'd be a miracle if I ever got the chance to become acquainted with them.

Miracles can happen, right? Or do they only occur for certain people?