From Rags to Royalty [Jellal x Erza]

Royal Party

"Are you alright?" Jellal asks.

"Y-Yes," Erza stutters, "I'm fine."

"Are you certain?"

"W-Well," Erza clears her throat before continuing, "I'm just not use to wearing these types of dresses, is all."

"I see." Jellal nods. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable."

"I-It's alright!" Erza assures him.

Jellal sighs and licks his lip, hesitating about asking his next question. "So does this mean . . . does this mean that . . you don't want to attend the party with me?"

Erza appears to be taken back, not expecting the Prince to be asking such a question. Her eyes go wide. "N-No, that's not wha-" She cut herself off because she know that Prince Jellal was right. She didn't want to go with him. She felt inferior. And she knew she would stick out like a sore thumb at that party. Despite knowing all of this, she couldn't help herself. "I'll go." She says in a quiet voice.

"Are you sure, Erza?" Jellal raises an eyebrow as he stares at the redhead.

"Yes." Erza nods. "I might as well. I've already gotten dressed and everything."

Jellal simply nods and holds out his right arm. Erza understands the silent message and interlaces her left arm with Jellal's right arm.

The two young teenagers walk down the hallway, the only sound being the sound of Erza's heels against the floor as she walks.

A white limousine is parked outside of the mansion, awaiting the party goers. Jellal escorts his date into the backseat before sliding in next to her.

As the car begins to move, Erza's cell phone vibrates from inside of her bra. A pink blush rising to her cheeks, she reaches inside of her bra to retrieve her phone.

There's a text from her mom.

'Have a fun night with the Prince! Love you!'

Erza sighs and types back a simple reply.

'Love you too.'

After finishing her text message, she puts her phone back inside of her bra.

"I-If . ." Erza turns her head and sees Jellal looking slightly uncomfortable and flustered. ". . if you needed a small purse, you should have told me." He bit his bottom lip lightly. "I could have bought one for you."

A purse? Erza thinks to herself. "Wh-"

"Your phone." Jellal interrupts. Erza's eyes go wide in realization. "It's nothing to worry about, Prince Jellal." She mumbles, her cheeks turning a light red.

If you say so. Jellal sighs and nods, leaning back in the seat.

👑👑👑👑

"Welcome." A gentleman greets Erza as she stood from the car. Erza smiles and nods, not known for socializing well with strangers. "This way." The gentleman says, gently taking Erza's hand and leading her to the other side of the car where Jellal was waiting.

Jellal stood on the first step of the building and as Erza was escorted to him, he held out his right arm again. Erza interlaces her left arm with his right, and the two walk up the stairs.

While walking, Erza grips Jellal right sleeve with her right hand. She's nervous. Her hand was shaking and the only way, that seemed to work, is to cling to Jellal.

But even as she clings to him, she's still nervous. Her heart is hammering in her chest.

There's a lot of people here. What if I embarrass myself? I'll probably embarrass myself. But I can't embarrass Prince Jellal. Okay, breathe, Erza. Breathe.

By the time Erza began taking deep breaths, she and Jellal were at the entrance of the building. The music was unmistakably clear at this point.

The doors were opened for Jellal and Erza, and the first thing they saw was couples dancing on the dance floor.

"Shall we?" Jellal looks over at Erza with a smile. Erza nods shyly, and Jellal leads her into the party.

The party's atmosphere is light. People are talking, laughing, drinking, and dancing. And, by simply looking at the party guest, Erza can tell that these people were rich.

She felt out of place.

Jellal walks Erza over to the far left wall. He glances at her and notices her nervous expression.

"Everything will be fine, Erza." He says, reaching over to gently squeeze her hand.

"Jellal!" A female voice calls from behind the two. They turn their heads in the direction of the voice and see a Caucasian, blonde hair, brown eyes, big breasted teenage girl running cautiously towards them in heels. "I knew it was you!" She sighs, smiling as she comes to a stop next to Jellal.

"Good evening, Lucy." Jellal greets, nodding his head at her. He glances at Erza, "Erza, this is Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia from the Heartfilia Estates." Then he glances back at Lucy, "Lucy, this is Erza. Erza Scarlet. Her father works for my father."

"Oh, is that so?" Lucy hums. She holds out her hand, waiting for Erza to shake it. Erza shakes her hand and she withdraws. "So, she's your date?"

"Yes." Jellal answers. "And where is your date?"

"Ugh," Lucy groans, "somewhere stuffing his mouth with food." When Jellal raises an eyebrow, she continues, "His name is Natsu."

"I think I've heard of him." Jellal mumbles. "The popular business company, Dragneel Inc.?"

"Yeah." Lucy nods then shrugs. "My parents are trying to marry me to him."

"And I get the feeling that you don't want to marry him."

"No, I kind of had someone . . else in mind."

Erza raises her eyebrows at Lucy's statement. As the blonde spoke, she looked Jellal up and down. Erza bit her lip and glances in another direction, towards the dance floor, to avoid awkwardness.

Only, this was just the beginning.