Erza the Baby Sitter

Phase

"E-Erza?"

Lucy's voice wavered, surprised at the person who knocked on her door. She wasn't at all paying attention that the urgent knocking of the redhead caused a very visible dent on the wooden plank, a few splinters and pieces of wood dropping on the ground. The door was becoming slightly unhinged, too. At that, she wasn't at all surprised.

"Lucy? I heard that Jellal is currently here. Can I see him?" Erza asks, trying to take a peek in the room. The blonde noticed her friend's plight. Erza was currently worried and shaken to her core that a hint of desperation could be heard in her voice. Her heart calmed down when she saw the cake present at the guild hall, but her heart rate spiked once more when she found out the baby was nowhere near the confection.

The redhead also heard that Jellal had gotten sick. The words "fatal" and "ill" coming from Evergreen's update on the whereabouts of the toddler didn't sit well either, and she was currently continuing on beating herself up over it. She who was always with him, didn't get a hint that Jellal was feeling anything wrong. Mira and Laxus covered Evergreen's mouth, giving it off that what Evergreen said was not to be mentioned to her under any circumstances.

"Yeah, he's here. Jellal is resting at the moment, so we should observe a little peace and quiet to help him rest up." Lucy whispers, letting Erza in.

The Requip mage nods in understanding, and enters. Jellal is found sleeping in a little bundle on the bed. Anti-magic cloth, Erza notes.

Erza's confusion was soon rectified when Lucy approached her once more, explaining what was wrong.

"-without that, he'd be teleporting all over the place. His ethernano is unstable, and Porlyusica has injected a stabilizer to hold it off."

Erza should have seen this coming from a mile away. His magic power is no joke, and it becoming unstable could-

"He'll explode if it goes on, won't it?"

Lucu nods solemnly, and glances at the child, currently occupying her bed. "Levy-chan and I are doing everything we can to speed his growing process up. Porlyusica has given us the name of the ingredient we needed, and Wendy and Charles are currently searching for it as we speak."

At that moment, another knock interrupts their talk, and Lucy stands up to take whoever it is. A beam appeared on Lucy's face the moment her eyes fell on Wendy and Charles, who were holding a bunch of flowers in their hands.

"Levy-chan, we have the Creonne!"

--

Erza looked at the child whose chest was heaving heavily, a sign that he was struggling. Who knew whatever this was could be deadly. Well, that was to be expected since he has turned into a baby for nearly three weeks now.

"S-Scwawet..." The child murmured in his sleep, his eyes closing tighter. Erza held out a hand to caress Jellal, and he instinctively gripped her index finger in his little palm. She winced, the heat from his fist making her feel like she dipped her finger in scalding water.

His temperature is not normal, the heat coming off his body is past boiling point. Erza notes, his magic is based on controlling heavenly bodies, so this must be an effect. Stars are balls of gases that are super hot, and if it lasts too long, it'll become a supergiant, and after that, a supernova could happen.

She read that somewhere in a book once, and it hasn't calmed her nerves. It makes her cringe that she'll never think of stars the same way again. She'll just probably think of them as hot balls of gases, and the twinkle she sees in the night sky are just these balls of gases exploding into nothing.

Erza could do nothing but hope everything will be okay. And if they get through this, she'll just have to give Meredy a piece of her mind.

--

The next day...

Lucy and Levy emerged in the guild with happy looks, satisfied and proud of their work from yesterday. Jellal finally drank the potion through a milk bottle, and the effect should happen pretty quickly.

The guild doors opened and in came Erza, with a little boy clutching onto her navy skirt. The boy was wearing a green hoodie a tad bit oversized for him, brown shorts, and boots.

Mira, Kinana and Lisanna, who were the first to see them squealed with a gleam in their eyes.

"So cute!"

--
"Jellal should probably grow up as how he grew up when he was younger. This is the part no one remembers, since the speeding potion will be in effect." Lucy explains, and Erza nods, hanging onto every word.

Levy joins in, bringing a vial with gold liquid, "This is the Creonne we pounded and liquidised. He'll need to take this once a day to help regulate his physique and ethernano. You may put it in any food or drink. Kids are most likely not going to consume anything that doesn't look delicious."

Erza nods and thanks the two, bringing the little kid with her to Fairy Hills, where she gave him a bottle of milk with a drop of Creonne.

--

"Ah! He's so cute!"

"He makes an adorable little boy!"

"Awww!"

"FIGHT ME JELLAL-"

"Shut it, Natsu!"

The little boy clutched Erza's skirt tighter and hugged her leg, nervous at the attention that was focused on him. He's turned into a shy little seven year old, who was scared, suspicious, and now aware of the workings of the world.

Said boy was now playing with Pantherlily and Asuka. Pantherlily was really good with kids, and Erza found it reassuring that the black exceed was the one to watch over the boy for the day. Pantherlily always said that taking care of Jellal hit him with nostalgia, considered that he was the one to watch over Mystogan when the current king of Edolas was young.

"So, how is Jellal as a boy?" Mira asks sweetly, wiping a glass as she chatted.

Erza hums and ponders for a moment, enlisting her discoveries, "He's a boy who is wary of the world. He doesn't like attention that much. The gold fish Bisca wanted me to watch over while Alzack and her were out on a mission amazed him to the point he'd stare at it for hours. And he's one of the weird kids who like to dunk and sog their bread in hot chocolate before he eats it."

"My, my. Elfman did like to make his bread sog in milk or hot choco when he was younger." Mira reminisced, giggling.

"The answer to why kids do that escapes me."

"Sweet soggy bread must be appealing to the taste buds of kids."

"Great, you're talking about soggy bread now? Jellal is turning you into such a mom, Erza." Cana cackles, chugging from her keg. "What's next, talking your kid out of wearing socks with sandals?"

Erza flicks her hair, "If it comes to that, I'll be talking him out of it. Jellal should not grow up to become a fashion disaster."

Cana shakes her head, drunkenly chuckling, "You should wait when the teenage years hit. Come age thirteen and onward, he'll become a bag of hormonal messes."

Erza tilts her head to the side, "Excuse me, what?"

"Ya heard me right. A hormonal mess. He'll see ladies left and right, and see nothing else but boobs and cherries-"

The redhead chuckles, shaking her head. "Jellal is sure to not be the type. He's not the type to become someone who thinks lewdly."

The brunette simply shrugs, throwing her head back to chug her barrel of beer, "Yeah, sure."

--

I've been busy with life lately, and I finally managed to sneak in an update!

Jer-chan