Sugar & Spice | jerza

Of Hearts & Hatters

"Mother must be so worried," Erza murmured, feeling distraught. Trees lined the path that they were taking to Hearts, fabricating a gloomy atmosphere that added to her homesickness.

"She probably didn't even notice," Happy said, reappearing on top of Jellal's messy, blue hair.

"You're so mean!" the girl growled, baring her teeth. The cat merely smiled crookedly before fading away again.

"How am I mean?" Jellal asked, still keeping his eyes on the path. "I didn't even get the chance to reply to your question."

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to-" she began before pausing. Jellal probably thought she was a lunatic, and for some reason that bothered her.

"I'm not crazy! I swear!" Erza defended. "At least I don't befriend flowers!"

At that, the boy's mouth curved into a slight smile. 

"You're taking me to the Kingdom of Hearts, right?" continued Erza, stopping in the middle of the dirt path. "You're not kidnapping me?"

"Of course I'm not kidnapping you," the boy responded promptly. "I don't have a basement to keep you in."

Erza scowled. "Very funny."

"It's getting late, and this road is dangerous at night. I propose we head over to Kagami Forest."

That seemed like an awful idea. Erza had always thought hanging out in the woods at night was a bad idea. But a forest? That had to be worse.

The pair stopped suddenly as they approached a fork in the road. Well, actually Erza was the one had stopped, causing Jellal to crash into her from behind. 

"Which way?" Erza asked the boy. Silence followed her question. The scarlet-haired girl turned around worriedly. Had she been abandoned again?

Jella was kneeling a couple feet behind her, examining his white shoes.

"Idiot!" she exclaimed, walking towards him and wacking the boy's head. "You scared me!"

"How so?" he asked, continuing to meticulously brush the debris off his shoes.

"What are you doing?" asked Erza, avoiding the question.

"My shoes are special shoes," Jellal explained vaguely. "And thanks to you, they've got dirt on them!" He stood up, reaching down to brush his right shoe one last time. "Now what were you saying?"

"N-nothing," the girl said, still staring his bleached shoes. "We should go." 

"You look unhappy."

"I'm not! I just..miss my sister and mother."

The blue-haired boy raised his eyebrows with suspicion, but was polite enough not to say anything. "Come on. I'm taking you to a party."

"A party!" Erza gasped, her eyes glowing with excitement. "What sort of party?"

"Hope you like tea," Jellal laughed, bundling Erza in his arms and sprinting toward Kagami Forest.

~ ~ ~

After two minutes of blurred color and Jellal's warm breath in her ear, she was finally put down on solid, stable land. The world stopped spinning.

"Feeling better?" Jellal asked, not at all breathless.

"Don't ever do that again," she wheezed, gasping for air. "What did you even..do?"

"I ran," he said simply. "With my special shoes." He looked like he wanted to say something else but decided against it. "Come. The party is past these gates."