#bc. ultimately it just. widens the field of normal

[azuchifairy]

Dead of Night

Jerza Vampire! AU One-shot 

Inspired by the suggestion from @jasnoor-kaur​ I realized Jerza needs love an attention bc their ship is so pure so this is my attempt at it! I’ve never written about Jerza before and this turned into something kinda long but I hope you enjoy it and maybe I'll make a little one shot series or something !!

Erza stood at the tree line with the moon as her only light. The forest behind her was teeming with the sounds of the night eventually erupting into a symphony as she waited. In front of her was an open field with tall grass with a path that led to the main road. It usually didn’t take that long for him to show up, but she couldn’t worry, Jellal was quite good at taking care of himself. She didn’t jump when the trees above rustled and force impacted the ground behind her.

“You’re late, did something hold you up?” She asked casually, turning around to see the blue haired vampire behind her. He glowed under the moonlight as he stood, his red eyes looking at her with hesitation.

“My apologies,” He brushed off his coat, “something did keep me.” He said, his tone harder than normal. Something was off and Erza sensed it immediately as she approached him.

“Did something happen? Are Natsu and Juvia okay?” She asked regarding their friends that had been a part of Jellal’s undercover mission for some time now.

Jellal looked away, his eyes distant, “They’re safe. I thought you’d already know. You should’ve known when you killed her.”

Erza understood suddenly and her eyes widened. She took in a breath before responding, “I see, so what’s the Order’s next move?”

Jellal directed his eyes to her incredulously, “That’s your response? How can you be so casual?” His fists clenched, “They want you dead Erza, they want the life to drain from your eyes. Not only that, but they’ve ordered me to do it.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised by his words, but his reaction surprised her all the same. Before that moment things had been going fine and on schedule, but now there was a complication in their plan. Erza was a hunter, not to any specific degree, although recently those of the Order were calling her Titania, the vampire hunter. She was a member of the most dangerous hunting guild across Fiore, Fairy Tail. With the help of her comrades they took on countless different creatures that threatened the lives of humanity and doing so put an obvious target on their heads. Erza had been trained to deal with different types of creatures and climbed up to S class when she was only 14.

Humans had an ongoing fight for centuries with the vampires, unfortunately there were vampire nobles who thought they were above all other beings. An Order was created as a place for those nobles to share their ideas to conquer humans. They were known as the Blood Order and almost every human alive feared their reign. The Order had many powerful vampires that possessed incredible gifts and their ranks grew everyday.

That being said, there were plenty of vampires that wanted to live with humans, even admired them so much that they became vegetarians and only consumed animal blood. Even Natsu Dragneel, one of Erza’s closest friends since she was a child, had been turned into a vampire. Yet he still remained on the side of humanity and a part of the Fairy Tail guild. Jellal was also one of those vampires. He had come up with the idea to infiltrate and gather intel from the Blood Order with both Natsu and one of Fairy Tail’s other members, Juvia Lockser, insisted on joining since they too were vampires. Even while they were supposed to be enemies it didn’t change how Erza cared for Jellal.

Wherever she went he was always watching. When she was visiting the bars downtown, going shopping at the marketplace, or walking the trail home through the forest. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself, but there was a fear he felt inside of the day that she needed help and he was too late. He, over everyone, knew the dangers that lurked in the shadows of the forests. With the Order being so widespread and the target on her head so coveted, he felt compelled to protect her.

Jellal had walked the road of darkness for decades and he had accepted it. He committed heinous crimes against humanity, immoral acts for the Blood Order, and fed on those of innocent blood and youth. There was a time where his loneliness and cost of his sins drove him to want to be evil, to enjoy killing and succumb to the darkness creatures like him were inevitably enshrouded in. But somewhere along the way, someone changed that. In the time he felt the most lost, he was found.

He could still remember the first time that he saw her in front of him. He was giving in to his thirst that night and almost devoured a young man in the forest when he sensed the scent of even more delectable human blood. His fangs were bared and as he turned around to change his prey he was stopped.

In the moonlight, so delicate yet so brave, the woman with red hair stood gripping her arm in pain. She was shaking so hard that it seemed she was about to drop the knife coated in her blood, yet even in agony she pointed at him with a stern glare. He swallowed hard, nothing but the wind made a sound. Her scarlet hair flowed underneath the light and touched his tainted black soul. After spending years trying to atone for his sins, dying by her hand didn’t seem so bad. He was ready to accept that fate over all others and stayed still in place on the ground where he knelt.

Something must’ve changed her mind, because within seconds she cast the knife down to the side and approached him. He was so struck with shock that he didn’t even feel the burning sensation of thirst anymore. She took her bloodied hand off of her wound and standing above him she cupped his face. Her eyes appeared to be soft, full of sorrow, yet she was still smiling.

“It really is you..”

That was all she said, and all she needed to say. He was so captivated that he would follow her to the ends of the earth. She had grown into such a beautiful young woman that if he could blush, he would’ve.

“You.. know me?” He asked skeptically trying to remember where a gorgeous being such as her would’ve seen him.

She chuckled brushing her red hair from her face, “Of course I do. I knew from the moment I saw you I would never forget.”

He stood abruptly and pulled her hand off of him, “What are you..” he remembered the blood on his hands and mouth, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t want you to see-”

“You don’t think I know?” She interrupted with her tone remaining soft. “You saved me then, and got me to safety.”

Then he realized that it was her, the infamous Erza Scarlet, but the moment she was talking about was before that. It was the night that the Blood Order had decided to choose a small village on the outskirts of the country for their ceremonial feeding. The vampire nobles had come up with a sick way of getting the specially chosen vampires fed by holding a cultist ceremony before purging a village of innocent people. In their minds they were rewarding their strongest members who benefitted the Order by gathering recruits, slaves, or intel and Jellal almost always got chosen. It was sick and immoral but it fed the hungry demon inside of every vampire, including him. To prepare for the ceremony, the chosen vampires were to go as long as possible without feeding to induce the ultimate level of thirst. This ensured that the entire village would be destroyed, and every drop of blood shed.

Fires had broken out and soon enough the whole village was aflame as vampires attacked the people trying to flee. Erza was one of those people but still a child at the time which made her significantly slower than the others. She ran as fast as she could but she wasn’t quick enough to outrun the vampires. Her body smacked into one of the higher ranks and she was thrown to the ground on impact. The vampire before her was called Zero and he was a ruthless killer amongst the Order. He held no care for human life, like animals to the slaughter.

Erza cowered in the ground trying to crawl backwards away from his figure looming over her. The moment he went to grab her and end her life Jellal threw himself in front of her. He grabbed onto Zero’s hands and growled against his strength.

Zero was surprised by this, since it was against the Law of the Order. No vampire had ever protected a human, “Jellal?! What the hell are you doing?!”

He couldn’t speak, Jellal was working against the will of his thirst and if he lost focus he might end up hurting Erza. This berserk mode was the most dangerous state of a vampire, but also their strongest. Their desire to consume blood takes over their minds and bodies becoming something truly worse than just a vampire. Erza watched the scene unfold before her knowing that the blue haired man was also a vampire, but not knowing why he was protecting her.

Zero had claws much like a beast as part of his gift and he was strong enough to tear through human bodies. Jellal was carefully dodging his moves using his immense strength to throw and smash him to the ground repeatedly. Nearby there was a strong scent of blood that smelled so good it distracted both Jellal and Zero.

Both tried to resist the thirst to focus on their fight and Jellal paid the price for letting his guard down. He had turned around to check that it wasn’t the girl who was bleeding and Zero lunged himself towards with his claws. Erza yelped suddenly, “Look out!!”

Jellal was able to send himself backwards just in time to not take the full brunt of Zero’s attack but he was still slashed by the five claws. Jellal cried out in pain and fell to the ground holding his abdomen.

“TRAITOR! I’ll kill you for protecting a scum human!!” Zero bellowed continuing his attack.

Unfortunately for Zero, those were the last words he ever spoke.

In the dead of night he snapped Zero’s head off. Jellal had no choice but to kill his own kind and burn the body, or else he would tell the Order of his treason. It was only until after Zero’s body was burning did he pick up Erza and bring her into the woods all while his mind was swimming. He wanted to drain her of blood, he wanted to save her, the contradicting thoughts and intense pain he felt were probably the only thing keeping her alive. When she was far enough away Jellal set her down and stumbled as he started to lose focus.

“Um..-“

“Get out of here!” He pleaded, “Hurry, run and don’t look back! Don’t trust anyone!” During that whole time he had barely looked at her but for a second he caught a glimpse of her scarlet hair.

“No, you need help! You were hurt badly because of me.. I have to help you!!” She protested coming closer.

Jellal didn’t have time to be shocked that not only a human, but a little girl wanted to help him, “NO, please, I’ll be fine just g-go.. I’ll heal on my own. R-Run..before they find you..”

Erza had tears in her eyes and stayed there for a moment longer on her knees, “T-Thank you..”

Once she said that she got up and immediately started running away wiping her eyes as she did. He looked up to the night sky and thought of the trouble he would be in, and he couldn’t find it in him to care. He stayed there through the night remembering her gratitude and the way she looked at him, like he wasn’t a monster.

After that night, Jellal wanted to be better than what he was so that he could start atoning for all the sins he had committed. He began freeing blood slaves of the Order and killing vampires of the lower ranks to shave off numbers. No one ever suspected that he was working against them, they even thought he was responsible for organizing new recruits. He tried feeding off animals instead and the transition was sickening at first, but became bearable over time. However, from time to time his thirst woke again for human blood and he would either fight or give in. That’s how they were able to meet again. She stood before him a true warrior, fearless, selfless, and stunning.

“I’m a monster Erza, you shouldn’t be here. We were never supposed to meet again.” He said shamefully, turning his head away.

“But that’s a lie. We were supposed to meet again because you never stopped looking after me. I know you were there, even if you thought I didn’t.” She said, pulling him back to her.

Jellal gulped having never been backed into a corner, “I-I was just making sure you were alright.”

Erza raised her brow, “Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you come out?”

“I didn’t think it mattered to you.. I’m not someone you should be associated with. I’m with the Blood Order, I’m much more of a monstrosity than you think.” He cringed thinking of how he must have looked when she first saw him.

“That’s another lie. You saved me that night, you took me somewhere I could be safe, you’ve watched over me, that has nothing to do with being in the Order or being a vampire.” Her eyes were hard, unwavering, “If you were truly evil you would’ve just killed me. Instead you controlled yourself and rescued me from certain death. On top of that I know you’ve been working against the Order. I know you feel the same way I feel, so you have to think of what you want to be instead of what you think you are.”

He couldn’t say anything, all he could do was stare at her while her words captivated him. Erza looked to the blood on her hand, “Look at you now. I’m standing in front of you dripping in blood and you haven’t done a thing. I know there is goodness in you, Jellal. Stop making yourself believe that you're something you’re not.”

“I..can’t walk in the light like you do, Erza. That just comes with being who I am.” He paused and noticed her glare deepening, “But, maybe I’ll try to..become something better. Especially if I have your support.”

The smile in her eyes did more than just lift his spirit. It truly motivated him to become someone she could walk with, someone she might care for. Maybe that was when he fell in love.

From that night on Erza and Jellal met in the town at least once a week, sometimes more often, to get him used to being around humans. It was easy for him from the start, whenever he was with her he could care less about anything else around him. She even introduced him to all of her friends she had met through Fairy Tail and even they accepted him almost as quickly as she did. When he felt hungry Erza, and the other vampires from Fairy Tail, would help him hunt. It amazed him that Erza had become stronger than he ever imagined she would.

It started to concern Jellal how much time he spent with Erza. His feelings only grew for her the more time they shared. He tried forcing himself to stay away, to leave and hunt for longer periods of time. But none of that created a solution for his love of her. Someone as dark as him, could never be with someone so pure. That was why he came up with the plan in the first place. Infiltrating the Blood Order alongside Fairy Tail helped Erza towards her goal. His mission with Natsu and Juvia continuously fed the guild with information so Erza was always able to position their forces in the ideal places for attacking.

For a while it went unnoticed and Erza’s bounty would rise from time to time. She had triggered the Blood Order the moment she killed Kyoyka, one of the highest ranking vampires. They met unexpectedly while Erza was trying to evacuate the next village to be used for a ceremonial feeding. When Jellal saw Kyoyka’s head burning on the ground he knew there was no turning back. Now that Erza had killed one of the higher ups, her bounty turned into an assassination plot.

“They want you to kill me..” Erza finally answered.

“I won’t do it! I would never hurt you, you have to believe me Erza,” he took her hands in his chilling ones, “please, you must kill me instead.”

Erza stepped back in shock throwing his hands down, “Are you insane?! What good is it going to do if I kill you?! The Order is going to come after me regardless, let them send someone else.”

“I wish it was that easy, but I think they’ve been suspecting me for a while. If I don’t do this the infiltration mission is over and we’ll be caught. You have to do this Erza.” Jellal insisted as he stared into her eyes.

She raged on, “No! I won’t. I refuse to have you throw your existence away for some Order. That would be pointless!”

Jellal clenched his fist, “I’m just trying to protect you! If that means giving up this meaningless immortality then I couldn’t care less.”

“You shouldn’t want to give up your life if you're trying to protect something, you should live to be there! Killing you isn’t the solution here, besides how dare you ever think that’s something I could ever do!” Erza retaliated with a voice full of passion.

“Erza, I.. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I’d rather go in your place.” Jellal said, casting his eyes down. He felt defeated and utterly useless. Everything he tried to build was about to fall and this was the breaking point.

“Coward! Instead of dying for me why don’t you fight with me?! This world won’t be able to change without you, my world will never last if you aren’t in it! Stop talking about things out of sorrow and let’s both look up for our future!” She threw her hands up, “Forget about the infiltration, we have all the intel we need. Now I need you, I need you to be by my side and come be where you belong. This is the time to turn the tide Jellal, not the time to give up.”

Jellal’s eyes went wide listening to how her voice never wavered, she held no hesitations, no reservations. She wanted to fight with him, she said she needed him. The future, he never truly thought about the future. He was always dwelling on the past, focused on molding the present, that he never stopped to think about what comes after. In every place he could recall the one common thing pushing him forward towards the future without him even knowing it, was Erza. Her light, the radiance in her heart was able to act as a beacon for him to follow, to move forward to. It was clear to him at that moment why he felt the need to protect her, why he relied on her very existence. She was the one pulling him towards the path those like her walked, the path of light. She was the one he fell in love with.

For as long as he had existed he didn’t believe it was possible to escape the darkness of the shadows, the evil he was programmed to have, but she showed him it was attainable. She believed in him and was willing to fight at his side for a future where they could be together, so he would too.

“Erza..” he said picking up her hands while his undead heart felt like it could catapult from his chest, “I want to ask you something.” He watched her blush and her whole demeanor switched.

“W-What?”

“If we fight together, will you stay by my side and let me protect you?” He asked while his mind swirled in an endless whirlpool of thoughts.

She nodded, “Of course. Until my last breath, I want to be by your side.”

Jellal felt a tingle in his chest and cleared his throat trying to regain his coolness, “Erza, what I really need to say is.. I-I can’t have a future without you. I have to have you with me, I want to live in a world where I can make you smile everyday. If that's the future we can both fight for together, then I want it more than anything.”

Erza’s hands trembled in his, “Jellal.. Are you..”

“Yes.” He started firmly, “I need you to know why I would give it all for you. I couldn’t help falling in love with you. I tried to stay away, just to help you in whatever ways I could from the shadows. But you have made me want to be in the light because without you, I’d have nothing.”

Before he even finished speaking Erza had thrown herself into his arms,“J-Jellal.. Why would you do that?” She asked quietly.

If he could blush, he would be red like her hair. “I thought I didn’t deserve you.. Vampires are meant to be predators..killers. I wanted to become better, maybe you could see me as something more. But regardless, I’ll still be here whether or not you feel the same.” He responded, cracking a smile at her.

“Idiot. You’re an idiot.” She said with her face in his chest. His eyes went wide when she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “I thought I was going to die before you told me that.”

Jellal was in utter shock. He had never seen her cry like this, and she was crying because of him. “Erza..I..”

Her fingers curled into his coat putting her head back down, “You might live forever, but I don’t have that time. I’ve waited.. for you to realize that I’m the one who fell in love with you first.”

He shook his head in disbelief but she continued anyways, “I didn’t want to push you, I didn’t want you to not be ready. But then I started to worry that you would never be ready, that I would die and never get to share my love with you.. I’m just glad, you feel like you can finally love others and even, me.”

The moonlight lit up her face the next time she looked up, and she smiled. Her hands lifted and she cupped his face admiring the realization in his eyes. Jellal’s hand slid against her cheek and she didn’t react to the chill. She nuzzled into it and pulled him down to her slowly with all the stars in the sky to watch.

He let her draw him in and fell slave to the way her lips parted in the darkness. In seconds, he received more bliss than over a hundred years of living. He felt her soft lips send him into nirvana, a feeling that even drinking blood couldn’t give him. Each of them couldn’t help but want more of the other. There was nothing else on his mind, not blood, not the Order, not himself, just her. His hand slipped behind her head cradling her in their kiss all while he was able to touch her smooth red hair holding in his grip. He was gentle with her, but his passion was stirring his supernatural strength.

Her hands were on his chest when he pulled back from her. She was breathless, and so blushed before him. He had never seen a woman like this before him. If he were alive he would be feeling those same sensations.

“I-I’m sorry.. I-” She kissed him again, just for another moment to cut him off from useless apologies.

She rested her nose against his like she was going to kiss him again, but remained still with their foreheads touching, “I love you Jellal, I always have.”

Fireflies began to glow around them, never in his life had he been able to feel so much happiness. “I promise you won’t have to wait for me any longer. You alone..have given me the strength to conquer anything.”

In that moment, everything was perfect. It didn’t take long for that moment to end.

Taggies: @unvalley

#jerza #jellal fernandes #erza scarlet #fairy tail #vampire au #anime #anime otp #azuchifairy