From Rags to Royalty [Jellal x Erza]

#1 Suspect

ONE WEEK LATER . . .

JELLAL'S OFFICE

"Hi, Jellal!"

"Hey." Jellal greets, "Please, come in."

"I was surprised when you called. You never call me."

"I just . . . wanted to talk."

"About?"

"Well, I've been busy so we haven't talked in a while. And when I saw you at the party, I thought we should catch up."

"That's sweet of you, Jellal! Well, what do you want to know?"

"Well, . . what have you been up to for the past couple of weeks?"

"Meetings. Ugh, tons and tons of meetings."

"What kind of meetings?"

"Business meetings, personal meeting. You know, that stuff."

"What do you mean by 'personal meetings', Lucy?"

Lucy gasps, "By 'personal,' I mean personal. You know, the kind of meetings where you meet up with someone, whose identity is kept a secret for security purposes, and talk about stuff that's, well, . . . personal!"

"Lucy, I'm just going to come out and say it." Jellal sighs, "Have you been meeting up with Natsu, forcing him to go out with Erza to create a scandal?"

"Wha-" Lucy gasps again, "How could you accuse me of such a thing? And why on Earth would I do that?"

"To answer your first question, I've had my suspicions of you from day one. And my next response answers your second question. Ever since we were little, I've known that you have a crush on me. Remember when we were five, we played together here and when your parents talked about arranging your marriage, you said you wanted to marry me."

"Well, yeah." Lucy rolls her eyes and scoffs, "But we were kids. Kids say all sorts of crazy and stupid stuff."

"So you don't have a crush on me?" Jellal smirks.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"So why was Natsu so jumpy when I mentioned your name the other day?"

"Natsu's always jumpy."

"Not really. Not a lot of things, or people, scare Natsu."

Lucy sighs before speaking. "Well, I don't know what's wrong with him. Look Jellal, scandals appear all the time. Just ignore it."

"You know the media won't ignore it." Jellal says sternly. "Erza's just an average girl. She doesn't even want to be in the spotlight. She wants a normal life."

"You talk about her like you know her."

"Well, her family has been here for some time. I've gotten to know her a little."

"They work for you, right? Erza and her parents?" Lucy asks. "Why do you care so much about a small scandal?"

"It's only small now. You and Natsu are big news, and according to the media, Natsu is 'cheating' on you. But do you wanna know what I think?" Jellal raises an eyebrow, "I think you forced Natsu to go out with Erza so that you could create this scandal. What I don't know is why you would do something like this."

"I didn't do anything." Lucy folds her arms over her chest.

"Oh, really? " Lucy nods. "Because Natsu said you did." Jellal lies.

Lucy opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. After a few minutes, she finally spoke. "I don't know what you're trying to get at, Jellal. You're seriously scaring me. Natsu wouldn't say that because I didn't do anything."

"Well, he said that you forced him go to the beach with Erza so that you could stage the alleged cheating photo."

"I didn't-"

"Lucy," A voice from behind spoke timidly. It was Natsu. "confess already."

"Wha-" Lucy was surprised to see her fiancé standing at the door to Jellal's office. "Natsu, what are you doing here?"

"Jellal called me." Natsu says. "I decided that enough is enough. Tell him Lucy."

"There's nothing to tell!" Lucy shouts. "Have you been drinking or something? I haven't done anything that Jellal is accusing me of! Why should I confess to something that I haven't done?"

"Not technically." Natsu shook his head. "You didn't force me to go out with Erza. You tricked me."

"I did not!"

"You told me that Erza was new in town and that she seemed lonely. You made her out to be this girl with no life or possible future. You told me that Erza needed a friend and 'since I was so friendly', I should take her out. You planned to follow us, you planned to have a photographer there, and you planned the scandal!"

"Natsu, stop it! Just stop it!" Lucy huffs and puffs as she stares at her pink haired fiancé. "None of that is true!"

"Oh, but it is." Jellal interjects. "With Natsu's help, I was able to collect all the evidence that I needed."

"Needed for what?"

"Court."

"COURT!?! You're taking me to court? For what?"

"Emotional distress." Jellal nods, "Natsu and Erza are pretty distraught. And I'm emotionally drained as well."

"This . . . This is insane." Lucy shakes her head in disbelief.

"Wonder what kind of punishment Fiore will give you." Natsu smirks. Lucy glares at him in response and immediately, Natsu's smirk disappears and he swallows a lump in his throat.

"Be here in the mansion tomorrow at noon." Jellal tells Lucy, "And if you don't show, we'll come find you."

"C'mon, Natsu." Jellal smiles and the two gentlemen leave the room.

Alone, Lucy only has one thought. This is not right!