Sugar & Spice | jerza

Of Flowers & Fantasy

Erza still wasn't sure how she ended up in the townsquare with a pitchfork in her hands, surrounded by a sea of identical children. Magnolia Town was horrid. She would never come back. Not even for vacation.

"If I were you, I'd run," a voice hissed in her ear.

"Where have you been?" the girl cried, looking up at the floating blue cat. "I can't run! I'm surrounded! I'm stuck, Blue!"

"My name's not Blue," the grinning cat said, his mouth turning downwards. Now he was a frowning cat. "My name's Happy. But I'm not very happy. And if I were in this situation, I would ask a good friend to go fetch some help."

Erza brightened. "My dear friend Happy, will you go get some help for me?"

"No," Happy replied, his silhouette dwindling away into the background.

"Gosh darn it," the girl mumbled. Hesitantly, she raised the pitchfork over her head and yelled, "Back away, children! This! This is the pitchfork...of immortality!"

"Why do you have scarlet hair?" the children chorused. "And why do you have brown eyes?"

"Pitchfork of immortality!" Erza repeated, brandishing the tool.

"Scarlet hair. Brown eyes. Scarlet hair. Brown eyes," they chanted, staring up at her with their own glazed eyes.

"Because I was born that way, for god's sake!" the scarlet-haired girl finally said with frustration. She threw down the pitchfork and hopped off the barrel, knocking over a couple of spinning tops in the process. Pushing past the children, she left Magnolia.

The stupid, grinning cat had been right all along.

~ ~ ~

Erza took the one and only path leading out of the town and followed it through the forest. Fiore was a stranger place than she had realized initially. The signs that lined the road read "Don't Look Up" and "Keep Left for Ten Seconds." Erza was very bad at following instructions so she busied herself by watching the critters of the forest.

Dodo birds and trumpet-billed platypuses abounded in these woods. She even saw a bandersnatch, which, until now, she had thought was nonexistent. At least dodo birds had existed at some point. She walked and walked, humming to herself, and stepping to the left side of the path when the signs instructed to. Just like all things tend to do at some point, the dirt path ended.

The scarlet-haired girl entered a large clearing filled with dirt and blue sky. Flowers were scattered about, some as small as a nickel, others towering like trees. Erza wondered what it would be liked to climb a flower. Would it be trickier or easier than climbing her oak tree back at home?

She stepped timidly into the dirt, breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't swallow her up. Padding across the flowerbed, she made her way to the largest living thing, a sunflower, bright and cheerful. The girl had been just about to grab one of the leaves when a screech startled her. She backed away, tripping over her own feet in the process. A mighty tear signaled the ruination of her best dress.

Mother was going to be furious!

"Don't touch me!"

"E-Excuse me?" Erza asked. "Who said that?"

"Me, you dolt!"

"Who?"

"Me!" 

Erza watched in horror as the sunflower turned, glaring at her fiercely. 

"Pansy, darling, look how ugly this young blossom is," the sunflower spat.

"What type of flower are you?" the pansies crooned, reaching out to carress a silky strand of Erza's scarlet hair.

"A rose?" one of the tiny petunias squeaked, their eyes wide with wonder.

"How cliche," the lilies chorused, fluttering their pearly, white petals.

"I am NOT cliche!" one of the roses spat, pointing one of many thorns at the lilies menacingly. The lilies scowled, backing away in unison.

"I-I'm not a flower," Erza stammered, inching away from the garden. "I'm a girl."

"Aiyeeee!" the tiny mazus flowers screeched, drawing their leafy arms away from the path. "Don't step on us, stupid flower!"

"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" Erza yelped, stumbling away from the queer, queer garden. "I..I'm a bad flower, aren't I?"

"She's far too talkative and clumsy for a flower," a voice murmured. "Just look at her droopy petals. They're ghastly and absolutely vile. "

"My petals are pretty, aren't they, Jellal?" one of the smaller flowers asked shyly.

"Of course," Jellal affirmed, stepping out of the dirt and into the center of the path. He reached out to stroke the shiny petals of a nearby violet, much to the flower's delight.

Erza breathed a sigh of relief. A boy, it was a real, breathing boy in all his ostentatious glory.

"You aren't a flower!" she gasped, unable to take her eyes off of him. Someone who's not a grinning cat or a self-absorbed flower or a sassy rabbit. At last!

"Neither are you," he told her crisply. He leaned in, smiling mischiveously. "And I can't help but notice that you are a very pretty girl."

Erza backed away and put her hands on her hips. "I-I'm n-not just a pretty girl. I'm m-more than that."

Jellal nodded respectfully. "Of course. Then what are you?"

"I'm a princess."

The boy looked mildly amused. "Right. Of what kindgom?"

"Rosemary."

"The Kingdom of Rosemary. Is that on the Other Side?"

"Yes. And I'm here on vacation." There was no way in the world she was going to admit that she was lost to this boy.

"Come," Jellal said, waving his hand towards the exit of the garden. "Would you do me the honor of going on a walk?"

He was definitely mocking her now. Erza scowled and turned away, feeling both stubborn and shy. "I'm not allowed to go on walks with strangers."

"Well you've talked to one. Surely you're allowed to go on a short walk with me."

Erza knew she ought to protest, but instead she found herself nodding her head willingly.

"You're searching for the Looking Glass, aren't you?" the Fioran boy questioned knowingly. "Well, I'll help you. You have to travel through the Kingdom of Hearts. The queen isn't nearly as sweet as you, princess. Then you'll have to get through Chess. That's where I live."

"You'll really do that for me?" Erza exclaimed joyfully. "Promise you won't randomly disappear?"

"I'll stay by your side the entire time."

Erza paused. "What's the price?"

"Price?"

"Yeah. Isn't there a quote about that?"

Jellal grinned. "I'm pretty sure the quote is 'Nothing has a price.'"

"Oh. My bad. So no price?" the girl asked, ready to get going.

"No price," he confirmed. He began walking towards the golden gate on the other side of the garden. "Come on."

Erza happily skipped after him. That's when the quote hit her. The quote Mother used to always repeat.

Everything has a price.