Title: Intricate Webs

Synopsis: It was frightening to not know what he had done and where he was going. With the past and the future both as blank canvases, Gerard hopes that the one person that could possibly help him find his way would bring him relief. Slight Gerard/Erza.

Rating: T

A/N: Huzzah! My first 'Fairy Tail' one-shot! It's Gerard-centric because, next to Loke, he's my favorite character. I found the manga a couple weeks ago, fell in love with it, and started writing. This is the first thing that I've written that's turned out okay, however. Oh well. It's a bit of a Debbie Downer, just so you know. Please relax, read and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Fairy Tail' because if I did Erza's name would not be something that my spell check hates.

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A spider slid down on a web of silk in the corner of his cell. It gracefully intertwined silk piece over silk piece forming a deadly trap for any bug that were to cross its path. 'Was that really me?' He asked himself as he stared at the spider's intricate pattern being formed. 'Could I have done that?'

According to the court, he had. For unspeakable crimes and the enslavement and deaths of hundreds he was sentenced to a lifetime in prison. Lucky, some of them called him. Apparently many were aiming to see his head in a noose.

The spider crawled around, making its web bigger and more powerful. In this hellish prison, it was the only entertainment that was provided. It was fair that Gerard was there, and he was aware of that fact, but it would have been nice if they had at least given him something to do. Most prisoners were allowed to interact with each other, but Gerard had no one but a guard who came to see him twice a day to give him some food and news from the outside world.

Almost as if on cue, a guard began to unlock the intricate locks that was on the door to his cell. They could only be opened by magic, and it took a powerful mage to be able to gain access to the room that he was to spend the rest of eternity in.

Knowing that it would take whoever was opening his door some time to gain entrance to the place, for the precautions to get in were time consuming, Gerard leaned against the wall that his bed was set against and closed his eyes.

No matter how much he tried, his memories would not return to him. To have his memories back was something that Gerard wanted so desperately, and yet, they never seemed to come. A little flash here and there of scenes that didn't make sense would pop into his mind now and again, but nothing that solved the mystery of who he was or why he was locked away in a cell for life.

Finally there was the defining and final 'crack' that meant the person would be entering in just a moment. Staring at the door, Gerard attempted to anticipate whom it was.

From the small amount of light coming through the window, he guessed that it was morning, so that meant that it would be one of the lighter weight guards; those were the ones who tended to get stuck with the crap shifts. If he was correct in his calculations, it was a Tuesday, so that meant that the guard that he should be getting for this meal was a lad by the name of Anton. He was a stronger mage, but a new kid at the workplace, which is why he was stuck with the morning shift. Nonetheless, he had a cheery disposition and an annoyingly naive outlook on life. Unlike most of the other guards, Anton tried to at least make conversation.

The door opened, and it revealed, as Gerard had predicted, the young boy carrying a metal tray with a piece of burnt toast, a container of jam and a bowl of oatmeal along with a glass of milk. Each day the food was the same, mediocre mess that it was the day before. Nothing ever changed in Gerard's jailhouse cell.

"Good morning star shine, the earth says hello!" Said the ever-cheerful Anton. Even on shift to give food to one of the deadliest mages to ever lived, he somehow remained chipper. "How are you this morning, Gerard? Did you sleep well?" Walking over to the desk on the opposite side of Gerard's room, Anton smiled back at Gerard.

"Didn't sleep a wink." Frowning, Anton set the tray down on Gerard's desk. "As per the usual."

Turning to face the amnesic criminal, Anton frowned. "You should start taking better care of yourself, Gerard. I'm sure that there are people out in the world who still care about you." The words struck a chord in Gerard's mind. For a moment he let himself think about Erza, the scarlet haired beauty whose memories were waiting somewhere at the back of his mind, waiting to be found. "So eat and sleep for them."

Grunting, Gerard turned to look over at the spider once again, who was now making extra repairs to its web that it didn't actually need. "Why are you so kind to me, Anton? Obviously, I'm a high-grade criminal who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds and am not worth the kind attention that you give me."

The cynical question was met with a smile. "Gerard, you don't seem like the sort of person who would do any of that. And maybe it's because I'm young and I don't know much about the world yet, but I don't think that someone like you could be truly responsible for what happened then." Pausing, Anton followed Gerard's gaze over to the web. "Sometime's we're caught in things that we can't control. There was someone who spoke on your behalf in secret during your trial; she said that you were possessed by some force and it wasn't really you who did all of those terrible things."

Faster than Gerard could think that he could move, his head shot over to look at Anton. "Who?" In his mind there was one memory that stood out so much brighter than the others; it was of a certain person telling him that she would always be there, that she would never leave him because she…

"That's classified information. But I believe that it was true. It came from someone who would not have lied." Gerard was speechless; it had to be her who said it. Who else was there? Though he did not know much about his past, it seemed like the only person who had ever really meant anything to him was Erza. If there was anyone in the world who would stand up for him, it had to be her. Taking Gerard's silence as a sign, Anton began to walk out of the cell. He was about to close the door when he remembered something that he needed to tell the prisoner. "Oh, Gerard, clean yourself up a bit; you have a visitor coming to see you this afternoon." Not waiting for Gerard's reaction, Anton let the door shut behind him.

Too stunned to speak, Gerard stared at the door that Anton left through. He could strangle the kid for not telling him who it was. It wouldn't have surprised him if Anton were lying. Even with his limited memory, he knew that part of the human condition were the constant lies that made up humanity.

Still, he couldn't help wondering if Anton was telling the truth and someone was coming to see him. For a long time, longer than Gerard cared to think about, there had been no human interaction in his life aside from the guards that came to see him daily. Other than that he had been entirely alone with his thoughts and the occasional spider in the corner of his cell. If he was lucky he could hear a guard talking to another prisoner or guard outside of his door, but that was rare; there were so many spells on the chamber that contained him that the door was even, for the most part, sound proof. Frankly, the thought of any human interaction made Gerard excited and nervous beyond belief.

But because of that, the endless monotony of his time in jail seemed to go slower than usual. It seemed that even the spider had become lethargic and given into sloth with the impending visit that was going to come to Gerard. As the hours ticked by more slowly than ever, Gerard grew more and more nervous.

There was a banging noise from the door, and Gerard realized that it was time. The hours had passed and now was the moment that he had been waiting for. After a short time passed, the door opened to reveal a smiling Anton. "Gerard, you have a guest." He said as he put down a tray of food on Gerard's desk once again. "I think that you'll be rather pleased; she's a looker!"

If it was a looker, than it had to be Erza. There couldn't be anyone in the world more beautiful than her. Someone cleared his or her throat from the doorway; Gerard hadn't realized that there was even anyone standing there. He took a sharp intake of breath and with anticipation he looked and saw…

A woman who he had never seen before.

"Gerard?" She asked, her dark hair falling over her shoulders. There was a very familiar cadence to her voice, but he didn't know where he had seen this woman before.

"Who are you?" He asked with confusion in his voice.

The woman's eyes widened for a moment, as if she couldn't believe that the poor soul sitting on a cot in a jail cell couldn't recognize who she was. Pity filled her eyes as she smiled sadly. "I'm no one, Gerard." She turned her attention back to Anton. "My business here is over." She said abruptly.

Anton's face fell. After pulling so many strings to get Urtear, a wanted woman, into the jail, to have her leave after such a short time was more than disappointing. "Are you sure, miss?"

"Yes." She said curtly as she walked back through the doors. Anton could do nothing as he looked at the dejected Gerard and exit the room, magically locking the door behind him.

And then he was alone once again, lost in the web of lives and lies that he had weaved long ago, and could not even remember. Now he was the fly, ensnared in the spider's cruel trick and doomed to live its last moments in fear and utterly alone, never seeing the person who he wanted to see the most ever again.

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Fin