Lovely | Jerza One-shots

Storms Pt. 2

Erza had been kept in her cage for nearly a month. Everyday she would be given a shell, but only after Jellal had poked and prodded her again. And only if she behaved well.

Every shell she got was colorful and pretty and kept her busy, but. . . they reminded her of home. Every single time she looked at them her eyes became the ocean themselves and slowly over time she became more and more depressed. Color seemed to fade from her existence, both quite literally and figuratively.

She wanted to see all her friends again, Lucy, Juvia, Levy, Gajeel, Gray and Wendy. How badly she missed swimming within the open waters with them. Nowadays, she rarely got fresh water to swim in and she could barely move. Her whole body was sore from stiffness.

Jellal, however, has thought about studying her behavior in the open waters, but was too afraid she'd swim away or that she'd be harmed by the nets. Effectively she could cause her own doom by tying herself within the nets, having them cut her open or straggling her to death.

He looked up from his paperwork to stare at her. She was lying on her stomach, propped up by her elbows staring at the shells. She made silent purring noises, although she looked sad.

Jellal took a deep breath and sighed. He leaned back in his chair as he studied her. He had to admit to himself that she was extraordinary. He wouldn't call her particularly beautiful or appealing, but she did have some heavenly features about her. If she were human, he had no doubt she would've stolen many hearts.

He got up from his chair, pulling Erza's attention, and walked outside to his deck. He watched the calm waters as they sailed. He made up his mind.

~~~

It had been days since Erza was last seen. Search parties went looking for her time and time again, always turning up empty. The royal mermaid guard had even dared going to the surface, but only ended up being cowards. They hardly took one glimpse before swimming right back.

Lucy herself had dared to leave the kingdom, but was prohibited from going any further than the edge of the reef. As the daughter of the royal family, it was crucial that she remained in the capital. She rebelled of course.

Her father didn't even do much in the situation with Erza being missing. It was such a bother, there were nights when she left the castle to go sleep at a friend's house. However tonight she was not leaving for a friends' house.

Tonight she was leaving for good. There were tales both true and false about a man who knew how to make mermaids live above water; how to turn them back into what they once were; how to make them understand the languages of different species above the water. She was leaving to see him. She knew that ever since they were children Erza had been nothing but curious about the world above. She had almost no doubt in her mind that something came with the current that made Erza go to the surface- despite being forbidden from doing so- and that something is what had kept her away for so many days. Lucy just hoped she wasn't too late or would find Erza in an unspeakable state.

Before swimming into the abyss, far from the kingdom, she passed one last glance home. Her brows furrowed as she vowed to return with her friend in tow.

~~~

It was early morning and Jellal stood out on his deck watching as Natsu hammered down on rows of nails. The two of them had gotten up long before the first light and had bolted down two pens on the left and right sides of the deck. At the sign of the first light and with a good view of the waters, Jellal instructed Natsu to tie a wire onto both metal pens, thus creating a half wire circled which arched out beyond his deck. The night before he had set his crew to work in making a giant net, which he would weave onto the wire and hook on the extra nails slammed into his deck.