EMPIRE | j. fernandes

Chapter Three: Neuralgia

Disclaimer: Any word/sentence with a superscript will have a note for it at the end of the chapter.

"Uh, I'm sorry, what?" Jellal's words had come as a surprise to the blonde. She had thought he was been over the past. Her eyes softened after a moment or so, shaking her head. Her blonde locks bounced from her shoulders. "You really don't have to worry about your reputation. Everyone here knows you didn't mean to— you know." Lucy let out a sigh, not wanting to mention his past doings. Her chocolate-hued eyes rolled to the back of her head, not bothering to take a seat. "God, Jellal. You really need to be more positive about yourself, you know?"

It was true, Jellal wasn't exactly the one to be positive. He still doubted himself greatly, and feared that others around him wouldn't exactly care for him after what he had done with the Resurrection System, well, the Tower of Heaven. He was well aware that Erza was probably still traumatized, even though she had done her best to set his wrong-doings aside. Erza was everything to him. Erza had truly been the only person who had whole heartedly accepted him. Swallowing, he felt his heart skip a beat. Because of an event¹ that happened in his childhood, he never wanted to lose a friend.

In fact, he feared it.

Jellal swallowed again, his orifices wandering down to the wooden floor beneath him.

"My apologies for wasting your time." He spoke. It had been quiet, a too quiet; it was awkward. Fiddling with his fingers, the man stood up. He had only been seated for two minutes or so, but then again, he didn't exactly have all day. He had to visit Fairy Tail— to gather a bit of information on the job they had collected. He only assumed that the same job request had been plastered on their board as well. Maybe they could help.

"I'll be leaving now." Was all Jellal said, "Thank you for having me." The boy slowly made his way towards the door, resting his hand on the doorknob.

"Wh— Wait!" Lucy's hand had been thrown out as if she had been chasing after the man. She didn't touch him, it had only been instinct that her body reacted that way. "It's only been like three minutes! Are you like, not going to stay any longer?" She couldn't help but to ask, her arm falling limp to her side. "Are you sure you don't want to talk a little more? You seemed like you had a lot to say and- "

Lucy had been caught off my the blue haired mage. "I assure you, I am completely fine." He spoke, a small smile pursed on his plumped lips. "I have the rest of Crime Sorcière waiting for my return. I think I should be leaving now."

With that being said, Lucy Heartfilia had given up on trying to get the boy to stay for a bit longer. The two had barely interacted with one another before, they had never had alone time together. To Lucy, Jellal was just a bit intimidating. He had been taller than Natsu and Gray, and well, more muscular, and his magic energy seemed just barely stronger that Erza's. The celestial mage felt her head begin to nod on its own. She understood.

"Alright," She began "it was nice speaking with you." Keys dangling from the side of her hip, she took a small step back, giving the man the room to leave.

His feet made contact from the wooden floor to the concrete sidewalk he had been walking on previously. Giving the girl one final wave, he made his way over back to his group. Striding to catch up to them, he suddenly felt a heavy pain. Squinting his verdigris hazel hues, he had suddenly paused in his tracks, causing the rest of the group to suddenly pause as well.

"Jellal! Is everything okay?" Meredy spoke, instantly pressing her hands against his shoulders in a comforting manner. This had been so sudden, well, Jellal's sudden migraine. Her eyes widened with concern. Sorano had spun around, raising both eyebrows in curiosity. With a pout of her lips, she crossed her arms.

"Don't tell me we need to ask those Fairies for ice as well." She joked, referring to those Fairy Tail wizards they would be seeing in no time. She leaned forward in a seductive stance, it was like her to act this way, especially to her friends. "Come on, headaches are totally normal!"

This remark had received a small glare from Meredy who had spun her head around to glance at Sorano. The younger female had been greatly disappointed hearing the snow tressed females' snarky remark.

"That wasn't too nice of you, have some decency."

"Sorry, sorry! Ah, you don't need to get upset!" Sorano waved her hands in defense, a smile still visible on her features.

"I'm fine." A muscular hand had taken a hold of Meredy's wrist, pulling it down from his body. "I'm fine, I promise." Jellal could still feel the pounding in his head. Attempting to open his eyes, he allowed his fingers to rest on his temples, but soon clutched the sides of his head in agony. He could've sworn he had seen stars— patterns of the midnight sky. It felt strangely harrowing for a moment. "Shit. Jesus. Bloody hell." Forcing his eyes open, his pupils grew small before dilating back into their previous state.

Jellal heard a voice, and quietly turned his head to glance over towards the sound.

"You're lacking iron." Erik's cold hues shifted towards the concrete like he hadn't wanted to get involved with the situation. "People with iron problems get it, at least that's what I learned from Gray." He mumbled, a sigh escaping between his lips.

"It's called an iron deficiency." Sawyers blonde hair slicked up from his mow-hock, his pointed nose now towards the dragon slayer who stood beside him.

"Yeah whatever. It— really doesn't matter." Erik scrunched his nose, sharpening his gaze over to the blonde. "You don't have to know everything, can you shut up?" It had been a while since Erik had picked a fight with with rest of the group, then again, it wasn't very often they argued unless... it had been Sorano acting up.

With Jellal now back together again, he separated them. He knew that this migraine had probably been more than what had been stated. He saw darkened glimpses of another setting. Jellal knew it was crazy. He couldn't exactly understand what it had been though. Most of it had been the sky, constellations with a dim twinkling in the starlight. The more Jellal thought of it, the more he believed what Erik had said. Yes. It had probably been due to lack of iron, at least that was what he had been believing.

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INDEX

1: An original character I have created shares a backstory with Jellal.

AUTHORS NOTE

I apologize for the slow updates!! i will try my best to write more chapters. Please comment some constructive criticism because i'm really not the best at this. If you see any spelling errors, please tell me.