Erza gripped the scepter hard enough to make her metal gloves creak. However, neither the hum of the magestone nor the act of using her strength to the fullest could placate her, and neither could it solve this matter.
“Jellal,” she said—slowly, carefully. Erza was positioned between him and the mirror, and she trusted her reflexes, but she still couldn’t help but to doubt her ability to stop him from escaping. Or, rather, from throwing his life away. “Let’s talk this through.”
Jellal chuckled dryly, without mirth. The bags under his eyes appeared darker in the light of the dorm courtyard. “There’s nothing to talk about. We both know that the Arcane Response Unit won’t be persuaded. I’m going.”
“The Headmage is speaking to them now. This is all just a misunderstanding. We’ll work this out.”
Erza absolutely hated not being able to do more. Her respect for the ARU and the role they played in this world absolutely did not diminish that this whole situation was bullshit and Jellal was being wrongly scapegoated. It was unjust and plain wrong. If Erza thought that marching up to the captain (a second time) and demanding this bogus investigation to be dropped would work, then she would have done it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, even she knew that this could not be solved with violence—or with caving in. They had to stand their ground and play this right, and that meant keeping her dorm here while the Headmage worked her wits and magic.
Surely, everyone else would see the reason she clearly saw—even when Jellal himself doubted it.
Jellal was only eight when he came to the Queendom of Roses. Only eight when they met. He was a shy and awkward child, and he refused to talk about where he came from. That was alright though, because even Erza knew that it was sad. That was why he had been sent to Grandpa Rob. Erza had just been thrilled for another fae child to join Rob’s home for orphans, because it had meant that there was at least one other kid she could play with without fearing their fragility.
He was her best friend, and he was a good man. Erza wouldn’t have made him her vice housewarden otherwise. Jellal helped people and he was kind and he was careful and conscious of those around him, and he sought peace and balance above all else. And people seriously thought Jellal, as a child no less, was somehow responsible for an attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Heroes’ royal family. It was utterly absurd.
It was even more absurd that Jellal was willing to accept it.
“Erza, I have to go. I— I did do those things. I can’t continue to ignore it.”
He might have succeeded in making that declaration cold, but the crack in his voice belied his fear. Erza’s determination settled. She swore to protect the people of Heartslaybul, and to lead them down a victorious path. She would even protect them from themselves.
“I am the Queen here,” she declared, throat tight. “My word is law. And I say you stay.”
Jellal shifted into a ready position—to fight, to flee. The movement alone cut her to her core. “Erza, I’m not who you think I am. I’m not worth it.”
Her heart cracked. She wondered if the Queen of Hearts ever felt this pain, her desire to protect her people a visceral and painful thing. Maybe that was why she sometimes appeared so violent in history—because she, too, swore to protect her loved ones from anything.
The past few weeks she had had to watch Jellal suffer under this weight. She watched him try to convince her that he wasn’t who she knew he was. It hurt to even consider. It hurt worse that he thought so little of himself, and little of her for not believing that she would trust him.
Erza would not be easily swayed. Not even by him. She reached into her Inventory and she grabbed a long, weighty lance.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Jellal lunged. His magic mastery was always an impressive thing, and he could boost his very movement. However, her reflexes were not to be trifled with either—and, she had planned for this. She knew him well, after all.
“Now!” she shouted, and a flurry happened all at once.
Erza employed Jellal’s own trick, hastening herself to meet his path and bodily block him with her lance. Behind her, several magic barriers were erected around the mirror, and Erza quickly added her own, for good measure.
A vine wrapped around Jellal’s ankle, yanking him backwards and straight into Elfman’s bear-hold.
The plan quickly fell apart though. With a potent burst of magic, Jellal ripped himself out of the hold. He levitated Elfman with ease and tossed him straight into Droy.
“JELLAL!”
Mirajane appeared in a fury, floating above him. Erza spotted the flash of guilt across his features right as the junior batted him downward with ice magic.
“Stand down,” Erza ordered, a little desperate.
But Jellal had his own share of determination, evident in the sweat gleaming on his too-pale face. “Don’t fight me on this.”
“Too late, man.” Jet, the only one arguably faster than Jellal thanks to his Unique Magic, swept Jellal off his feet right as he tried to get up.
Mirajane met her eyes, and reluctantly, Erza nodded.
“Soulbinder,” Mirajane chanted, and in seconds her UM manifested around Jellal, the dark tendrils physically rooting him to the ground and eating at his magic. It was a violent restraint, but it worked. Erza knew that any less Jellal would fight through. Not that he wasn’t making an attempt now.
“Please,” she practically begged. “Don’t throw yourself away.”
Jellal tugged at the spell, a heaving breath making his exhaustion known. “You think I want to?” he whispered.
In the silence that followed, the soft admission might as well have been a shout.
“Do you think I want to go? To admit that any of that stuff happened? To— to accept the role I played?”
Erza swallowed. There was something dangerously shaky about his countenance. The strain in his voice was brittle, and her instincts whispered that something was about to snap. The air grew thick with that anticipation. “Jellal…”
“NO!” His shout was raw and hoarse, full of tears and anger and everything, that it startled Erza into silence.
“I never wanted this! But I can’t change what happened. No amount of hoping and pretending will ever change it!”
The atmosphere shook. An ugly sort of magic began to fill the air. Erza realized it too late, when Jellal’s tears mixed with his sweat and turned black.
“It will never change that I was her pawn!”
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Fic Writer Asks!
I was tagged by @bidoofenergy thank you for the tag!
for the sake of my sanity i am mentioning and ignoring karmaland and way older fics as I see fit
ao3 name: elawritesgays but my pseud for english fandoms is justno
fandoms: Currently? Red, White and Royal Blue and All for the Game. Now, all-time Karmaland, Voltron, Shadowhunter's Chronicles and one (1) DSMP
number of works: 15 on Ao3, if we count the Twitter fics 24
work i spent the most time on: There's an AU that took me longer than a year, started july 2020 and finished writing it somewhere early 2022 and it just didn't get fully posted, otherwhise since I mostly write one shots all of them have an average of 1 or 2 weeks of writing/editing and posting so I have no clue
work i spent the least time on: Holy, a Rubegetta one shot. I know for a fact it didn't even take me a day to write it and post it, it was my first fic after years of not writing anything at all.
longest fic: My longest fic is a Karmaland FS AU (yes the one mentioned above, yes I know I am writing another rn) and it is 44k words, but I published maybe 30k, and I didn't put it on Ao3. That being said it is Try Again, the whole thing is written I just stepped away from the fandom
shortest fic: each of the drabbles in my drabble collection (? each around exactly 100 words or a little more when I write in Spanish and English at the same time, that's as short as it can get
most hits: las formas de llamarte amor I am used to not getting many hits so this one was a surprise to see escalating to numbers I had never seen.
most kudos: also las formas de llamarte amor once again.
total word count: 34,129 (on Ao3, mind you)
favorite work of my own: This is so hard because I can't chose. I think I have a few favourites for different reasons so I am going to cheat and mention one per language at least.
A ti, is an epistolary fic about two Karmaland NPCs that I wrote for a creative writing class, it's Sapphic and I think it is the most carefully crafted one. It has a special place in my heart.
and las formas de llamarte amor my debut in the RWRB fandom if you will, the start of my Alex Claremont-Díaz speaks Spanish agenda, and the Alex calls Henry pet names in Spanish agenda.
fic you want to rewrite/expand on: With You, a dystopian AU for the Karmaland fandom, I feel like if I hadn't been on a deadline it could be so much better, maybe even as a multi chapter that could explore a lot more of the main characters
share a bit of a wip: i am running out of snippets that are not spoilers
“Alexander, if you are trying to fit a quadruple Lutz in that jump you’ll be thoroughly disappointed when you land with your face on the ice.” Zahra’s suggestion goes unnoticed because Alex has already fallen with a resounding thwack.
One wouldn’t look at the now limp body on the ice and assume that it belongs to Alexander Claremont-Díaz, a professional figure skater and representative of the Mexican national team, yet not even he is capable of avoiding meeting the ice face-to-face a few times.
Figure Skating AU WIP my beloved
and I am tagging @heybuddy-drabbles @14carrotghoul @inexplicablymine @userd0esn0texist @mudbloodpotter05 @suseagull04 @raysletters @xthelastknownsurvivorx no pressure tho!
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I'm gonna get a little salty real quick on here, but I kept thinking about this for the past few days and it's just driving me mad so.
I'm - and have been, really - annoyed with Tracer's treatment both from the fandom in general and Blizz, especially with the next gen of Overwatch. They cannot, and will not, commit to placing her somewhere and committing to it. And while yes, that's kinda her schtick in a way, a person sliding between times and not really fitting in with either, it's clear that they didn't plan that; they just forgot about her.
Lena was literally leading the Havana mission. She was being overseen by Sojourn, but she was the point woman on it. Her calls, her plans, took down Max. She's seen plenty of combat, more than half the roster if you go by the shorts alone, and yet, there is no talk of bringing her up into leadership during Recall. She was the first one to answer, but oh no, we can't have a Recall unless Cassidy comes in and saves the day - and this is not a hate on Cassidy at all, it's an important plotline for him to go from essentially forced servitude to running the show - but still, she's just considered the 'funky pilot'.
It's canon again and again that Jack had a vested interested in her. She was to Jack what Cass was to Gabe. And yet she is continously overlooked in lore and just in fan stuff. And I absolutely hate to play this card but it does make me wonder that, if she was male, would more people support it??? idk man I'm just super salty today.
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