Finding Forgiveness {Jerza}

The Will to Train

Jellal's P.O.V

"Where... are we?" I asked, exhausted. Sweat ran freely down my skin, as my breathing became heavy. 

Winds carried swirls of sand as passengers across the moisture-less terrain. The ground beneath my feet was a pale beige, with an atlas of cracks to accompany the lack of water. Tall red sand dunes framed the flatland below that we stood upon. Weak, frail, dead trees spotted the emptiness here and there; but for the most part this was just a wasteland.

"My favorite training field!" Erza pronounced with stars in her eyes, not showing any sign of tiredness. "I've trained here since I was a little girl!" 

"E-Erz.." Meldy tried to say something, but failed as her body hit the ground.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, this place is practically a vacation hot spot!" She added happily.

"We've been walking since sunrise this morning... Nearly 8 hours now... To train... In this perdition?" I spoke through breaths. 

"You wanted to train, didn't you?" Erza replied with an eyebrow raised as she stuck her sword in the ground. I hesitated to reply, knowing that we were here based off of my own ideas. But why here out of all places?

"So let's train," She said affirmatively, reequipping into her Heaven's Wheel armor.

I gave her a half smile, and unbuttoned my cloak. It flailed in the wind before landing on the dry floor delicately. I took off the majority of the layers of clothing I was wearing to abide with the heat. I was left in the casual, dark sleeveless shirt I typically wear along with my grey pants.

"Are you ready?" I asked her with a smirk, taking her hands in my own.

"Does this answer your question?" She asked as a magic circle shone brightly around us.

"Fair enough," I responded, creating my own circle above hers.

"Begin sync- on the count of three!" Erza called.

"One! Two! Three!"

"Circle Sword, Grand Chariot!" We shouted in unison.

The magic energy being released was almost overwhelming, as I fought to concentrate on syncing our spells. Our attacks battled one another, not wanted to collide into one.

"We can do this, Just a little longer, Erza!" I grunted as we both struggled to continue. The energy was radiating, and looked like it was about to explode. "Just.. A little... Longer!!" I said, gritting my teeth. We both closed our eyes, and gave everything we had into making it work.

"I... don't think.. we-" 

"Don't talk like that, Erza!" I shouted, our eyes both rapidly opening to meet one another. The light of our two spells illuminated into a bright white, hitting their maximum magic energy capacity.  

"Think about everything we've been through!" I yelled,

The spells slowly started to move closer.

"Think about everything we've survived,"

The circles skimmed one another reluctantly.

"Just to be here! In this moment! Think about all the lives we'll save by taking Asmodai down!"

They merged into one another slowly, as streaks of pure energy dashed along the tops of them like skipping rocks in lake water.

"But most importantly, think about how I lo-"

The spells viciously rejected one another, creating an explosion-like back fire. Our bodies were shot backwards, and we skidded against the rocky ground in opposite directions. A sharp pain erupted from the top of my wrist, which caused me to discover a reddening burn there.

"Erza!? Are you alright?" I said as I dropped my wrist and jumped to my feet. This was quickly found to be a bad idea, as I stumbled and fell to the floor once again. New found pain within my very being began to burn inside of me as if I just swallowed an inferno. 

"I-I'm fine," She said, sitting up slowly. "Ow!" She exclaimed, looking abruptly at her wrist. She had a burn identical to my own. It clearly had to be a side effect of the magic energy collapsing. The burns were placed on our dominant casting hands, where the most energy was produced.

 As the energies we created refused one another, they tried to return to the wizard they came from; just as any failed spell would normally do. However, the magic was already partially mixed; thus, our own magic returned to our bodies but the magic belonging to Erza (In my case) couldn't successfully enter my body as my own spell did.

 In short, the burn was created by her magic reflecting off of me as it realized I wasn't a certain red-headed mage. 

We failed.

"I'm so sorry..." I said, looking at the ground. I just hurt Erza. How could I be so selfish...

My eyes sunk to the ground. Feet skidded and halted on the dirt in front of me. I looked up and saw Erza's outstretched hand inches away from me. I glanced up at her expression, which was kind and sturdy. "That's not all it takes to put you down, is it?"

I couldn't help but stare for a moment, astounded at her strength. Just moments ago, I struggled to stand on my own two feet. And here Erza is, as graceful and noble as ever. I suppose this is the kind of undying power she's always known.

I smiled weakly, and took her hand to stand up. "Of course not."

"Good, because we've got a lot of training to do," She said, brushing dirt off of herself. 

My Erza Scarlet, the queen of the fairies.