All characters and references, intentional or not, do not belong to the author of this fic.

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

PROLOUGE

The room was sinfully warm. Due to the new standards of security and privacy, the room had been sealed off, as per usual council business. There were no vents in the room either, making the stale air mix in with the odor of the perspiration ; turning the room into a suffocating torture hall. Not that the new security measures were uncalled for, the council's wounds were still fresh from its previous act of internal treason. The new headquarters had not been rebuilt , and for now, a temporary courtroom had been magically modified to house council meetings.

The room was a wide, rectangular hall about thrice the size of a tennis court. It had obviously seen better days. The wooden furniture and flooring creaked upon movement, due to years of resilient attack by termites, the tapestries and rugs which hung majestically on the walls now faded and dusty. A long table lined one side of the room, where ten old men sat, -gaudily dressed despite the weather- with expressions of obvious contempt on their faces. Across from them, a single woman stood, her back ramrod straight, her jaw set in a determined line; for she knew, no matter what these old men threw at her, she was going to win this round.

'This is preposterous! Utterly insane!' one of the old man bellowed, his frustration showing itself turning his skinny, gaunt face ruddy .

'You are asking us to free a madman, one of the most dangerous people the council has faced since Zeref himself, because YOU THINK HE IS INNOCENT?,'

'I have no doubt about it,' she answered calmly, 'You have heard my reasons, you understand what will unfold, so I ask you only to do what is necessary,'

Immediately, the they chose to yell and disagree and argue all at once. Out of the din, words like 'traitor', 'accomplice', 'evil' , 'murder' reached the woman's ears. She stayed silent, she had to play her cards right. It was only a matter of time now. Somewhere at the back of her mind, the irony of the situation made her laugh mentally.

He probably was in situations like this himself .

'Six months,' said a voice. It was no louder than the rest of them, but everyone fell silent instantly, eyes riveted on the short, chubby man.

Councilman Shinra twisted the rings on his fingers, fidgeting for all his worth. Obviously not liking a word of what he was saying, his eyes finally looked up through his unkempt blonde bangs straight at the woman.

'You have six months Miss Scarlet. Bring us proof . Or else, the two of you will pay the ultimate price,'

The television screen was grainy and black and white, the image distorting itself once every few minutes, and the volume would suddenly control itself, as it by will of a poltergeist ; but that was to be expected in prison. However, the small group of inmates at the Magnolia Maximum Security Facility recreation room which sat clustered around the singular entertainment portal to the outside world enjoyed every minute of it. The reason being it was 4pm on Friday, and that meant that Weekly Sorcerer's countdown of magic's hottest babes was playing.

'And now, the moment that you've been all waiting for, here's our number one hottest magical babe of the year…. Miss Erza 'Titania' Scarlet!,'

The screen fizzled for a moment, and then various pictures of Erza in various outfits came onscreen. As a picture of her posing suggestively in bikini filled the screen, the group of inmates let out several loud whoops and wolf whistles. Suddenly, one of them dragged his head away from the television and looked around the room as if something was amiss. Finally finding his target slouched by the window, staring out at the rain, he let out an evil grin.

'Hey Blue! Why don't you come over here and check out your girlfriend. She's on the telly you know,'

Receiving no reply from the solitary figure, another of his inmate 'buddies' broke free from the circle and joined the taunting game.

'Yeah man, aren't you like gonna clobber us for fantasizin' about your woman? I've heard you talking in your sleep ya know, when you think no one's hearin'. You keep moanin' her name over and over, frankly, I'm getting sick of it,'

This time, Jellal did look at them. He gave them a steely look with his dark green eyes which shut them up instantly. Nonsense like this was common in prison. However, it wasn't as though he had to deal with it. He had learned a long time ago that as with many social groups, authority in prison favored the strongest, fittest alpha male. No one dared question you if they knew you were the biggest and the baddest. Plus, he already had a reputation for single handedly infiltrating the council and causing its current state of disarray. Might as well live up to that.

'Trust me, whatever you think you can fantasize, its ten times better in real life,'

That caught their attention all right. The group shifted immediately from the television to a circle around Jellal, eager for gossip.

'Is she really that hot?,'

'How's she like in bed?,'

'You've slept with her?,'

'I bet you're in love with her aren't you?,'

There was a sudden clanging of metal on metal, Jimmy, the tall, lanky prison guard tapped his baton a few times on the metal doorframe of the rec room.

'Lets all calm down now people, break time is almost over,'

'Aww.. come on Jimmy, cant we have a few more minutes?' the man who spoke was Ric, the one who picked the almost fight with Jellal earlier. 'I bet you wanna hear Blue's stories too,'

'Yeah man, last I heard, you had pictures of Titania plastered all over your bedroom wall,' said Tom.

This seemed to fluster the guard. He was in fact, a closet fan of the Fairy Tail mage. Scooping up what was left of his dignity, he barked.

'Get your arses back to your cells now you filty maggots! I don't wanna hear anymore of this Erza Scarlet nonsense!,'

'It isn't nonsense,' replied Jellal smoothly. The guard did get on his nerves.

'You! Stop spreading these lies at once! Bullshit I tell you! As if a lowly prisoner like yourself could ever compare with her greatness, the Titania Erza Scarlet! Why, I would suck Ric's balls if Erza ever made a single hint that she even knew you! Celebrities like them have no business with prison people like us,'

From further up the corridor, a banging and slamming of doors could be heard, followed by hurried footsteps and the sounds of magical seals being forcefully broken. Moments later, at the prison door to the rec room, stood Erza Scarlet in all her red-headed glory.

Jimmy's mouth went slack and the prisoners in the rec room seemed to be paralysed in shock. From behind the Fairy Tail mage, a timid voice could be heard.

'Please ma'am.. This isn't appropriate. If I could just get you to wait in the visitation rooms,'

'You received notification from the council, yes?,' said Erza, with full authority.

'Yes.. but-but..' replied the man, obviously overpowered by her presence.

She paid no more heed to the prison guard and turned her eyes to Jellal. Though he swore the faltered for a split second upon meeting his, she immediately regained the command and power as if she was born in charge.

'Come with me now. We have to talk,'

And with that, she walked right back out the door, down the corridor towards the visitation rooms.

Jellal immediately made to follow. As he passed Jimmy, still in shock from the sudden visitor, he turned around to his fellow inmates.

'Be sure to get pictures,'

Really sorry for the super short chapter! The next one will be longer.. promise!

This will be an attempt at a multichapter fic. I've got the first few chapters rolling around in my head and hopefully, I'll post the next chapter up before this weekend is over.

On another note, the third chapter of 'Just for Tonight' is on its way. Admittedly, I am struggling to make the lemon just right. I cant help it. Haha. I guess I'm just fussy by nature.

Cheers!

asianpearl