Chapter Text
Being forgiven for their crimes, Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorciere had decided to rest up and recover from a job they had just finished up. They made camp in a wooded clearing which happened to be several miles from the Fairy Tail guild hall, as they had planned beforehand to go and visit them (well, for Jellal to "catch up" with Erza) for Merudy to see Juvia and the others to just relax on their own for a bit while they struggled to make their own decisions.
You see, since they had been pardoned and had been given permission to join a guild if they so desired to, they all were conflicted. Being with one another in such close proximity, they were all inwardly unnerved leaving each other’s sides, as they all thought of each other as a family, but most of them already knew where they wanted to be.
Richard, aka Hot Eye, knew that he wanted to join Blue Pegasus and team up with Lamia Scale every now and then for sure but keep in touch with his friends.
Macbeth (aka Midnight), Sawyer (aka Racer), and Sorano (aka Angel) all wanted to join Sabertooth. Sorano wanted to be reunited with her sister Yukino again and both Macbeth and Sawyer wanted to see how Sabertooth fit in with them.
Merudy knew she wanted to join Fairy Tail. Merudy wanted to be witness to whatever romance was blossoming with Juvia and Gray, but even she had a longing to join Lamia Scale, where she had fallen for Lyon Vastia. She hoped she could be in a situation where she was a permanent guild member of Fairy Tail and a member of Lamia Scale as well.
Jellal's choice? Oh, poor Jellal. He yearned to stay beside Erza and confess his love for her, but he just didn't know how to express his feelings yet. So, to keep an eye of Merudy for Ultear's promise that he made to her, he told himself that he would join Fairy Tail for her sake.
And as for Erik, aka Cobra? Cobra didn't know what he wanted. He felt like he didn't even know where he would belong, as he felt like something was missing. However, he knew that Cubellios, or Kinana now, used to be employed at Fairy Tail before she was killed in the battle with the Alvarez Empire. As much as he despised the idea of becoming a fairy, he was honestly a little bit worried at how he would even function being alone if all the others left him to go their separate ways. He knew all his comrades' plans, as he could hear it, and he knew that he might as well get his choice over and done with. ‘Ah! Whatever! Screw it, I’ll join Fairy Tail, those crazy freaks!’
_ _ _
After getting a fire going and gathering around it, Jellal spoke. "So, has everyone decided what they will be doing?"
"Of course, Jellal!"- Merudy
"Yeah.."- Midnight
"Sure."- Racer
"Why wouldn't we have?"- Angel
"Mmmhhhhmm..."- Cobra
"Good. I'll go first then." Jellal took a deep breath in and let it out. "I'll be asking to join Fairy Tail." Merudy beamed and grasped him in a hug. "Oh that's wonderful, Jellal! Cause I'll be joining Fairy Tail too! Although-" she leaned back "-I think I want to see if I can join Lamia Scale too, just to see what it's like."
"Oh yeah! That's what I was thinking as well! I want to join Blue Pegasus-"
("Ew, gross why that guild?"-Cobra)
("Shut up, Eric!"-Sorano)
"-And occasionally team up with Lamia Scale as well, oh yeah! So we may pass each other or even team up together sometime Merudy, oh yeah!" Richard smiled.
"Not entirely unexpected, Richard, but I'll respect your decision." Midnight sighed out, twirling his hair. He looked at Racer with a nod, who nodded back and spoke up. "Me and Macbeth are going to see about joining Sabertooth, see how well we fit in there. Macbeth had a good friendship going with their Memory Mage whose name is...I forget his name." "Rufus. His name is Rufus, Sawyer. We got along surprisingly well during our battle with Alvarez..." Macbeth trailed off. Racer took up the explanation of why he wanted to go to Sabertooth. "I kinda liked how cool that Orga guy was in his battle, plus I wanna see how I'd fare against him in a spar or two."
Angel let out a huff. "Great, just great! I get stuck with you two of all people!" Merudy looked at the other young woman in surprise. "Oh, you're joining Sabertooth too, Sorano?" Sorano sighed. "Yes. I decided on joining Sabertooth because of personal reasons that I'd rather not talk about, so no questions until I'm ready to tell you, ok?"
"Of course, Sorano. You are welcome to say as little as you'd like. Don't you worry about that." Jellal said in a calming voice, which had her relaxing a bit in her stance.
They all glanced at the last person to speak up on his decision, when, out of nowhere, a dense fog came over them. It washed over them like a thick blanket that became thicker as they tried to breathe, and Jellal realized that his magic was draining away from him like there was no tomorrow. "Attack-" he croaked out, but as he struggled to stand up, he sank to the ground as if his leg strength was non-existent. He reached for his communication lacrima inside his cloak pocket and managed to dial a familiar number, but unfortunately, she didn't pick up and he had to leave a garbled message "Help-Erza-Attacked-Miles Away-Fairy- Guild Hall-"
That's when he heard a blood-curdling roar of agony from Cobra, then another and another. However, his roars grew fainter and quieter, as if he was being taken away from their location....
Before Jellal could do anything else do investigate, everything he knew went completely dark.