Yellow

黄色

"Nee-san… I miss sunflowers."

Tears filled up the young blonde's black eyes as he huddled his knees closer to his chest, seeking warmth and comfort from his scrawny self. It pained Erza to witness such a sight from her younger companion. As a close friend, as a sister figure, it always hurt her to see such longing for the past, after the present has broken and battered them, little fragile pieces crushed.

And yet, as much as she wanted to comfort Sho, she didn't know what he was talking about. Not a clue.

"What's… that?"

The tears immediately stopped plopping down Sho's tanned cheeks, but instead, teary eyes formed into disbelieving ones, as they directed their attention to the clueless, shabbily-dressed girl.

"Nee-san doesn't know what are sunflowers? It's those really, really, big and pretty flowers!"

Sho gestured wildly with his hands, trying desperately to get his nee-san to understand the beauty of those beloved flowers that bloomed everywhere in his hometown.

"Nope. What are they like, Sho?"

Erza smiled at the placated boy, prompting him to talk more of these "sunflowers" that he was so enthusiastic about. As long as he was uplifted by the notion of what she presumed were flowers that bloomed on the sun, she would let him relish in it.

"Well, nee-san, sunflowers are –"

Sho's ardor was interrupted by certain, young individuals. They were moaning in pain, voices dragging on in display of their lethargy. Bruises and cuts were splayed all over their skin as well – marks everyone carried after a hard day's work for the Tower of Paradise.

"Hey hey! Guys, did you know that Nee-san doesn't know what are sunflowers?"

As everyone's gaze settled on the red head, she could feel a blush settling onto her features. Sho's stupid big mouth.

It seemed as if their fatigue were forgotten as they stared at Erza disbelievingly, an 'eh?' resonating through the concrete walls of their cell.

"It's just… the place where I'm from doesn't grow such flowers!"

Erza tried defending herself, but everyone knew it wasn't very successful. Because, really, who doesn't know the infamous flowers?

All of the children tried to explain to the clueless girl about sunflowers, but from the chatter coming from all sides of her, she could only barely grasp a few facts.

One, sunflowers were yellow.

Two, they did not actually grew on the sun, but rather on the ground.

It was through this ridiculous, yet blissful talking did the spiteful guard decide to throttle it with his presence.

"My, my. Happy, little brats, aren't ya? Guess you don't need that much to keep you going anymore, huh."

And with that said, he blatantly bit off half of the loaf of bread meant for them. There was a halt in everything – chatter, laughter, smiles.

And it was like he relished in it. Throwing the leftover bread, and dusting off the crumbs from his hands, he strutted off with an air of superiority.

Erza's animosity towards them grew. Staring at the remainder, stale bread, she knew it wasn't enough for all of them.

Jellal knew as well. As the two older ones, as the two who the others looked up to, they knew what they had to do. No words were exchanged; only a nod from the red head.

Picking up the bread, Jellal split the bread into three parts, and passed them to Milliania, Wally and Simon.

"Aren't you two hungry?"

Simon spoke up, holding the cold bread guilty within his palm. He was hungry, sure. All of them were. But it was wrong to eat when Jellal and Erza were not going to.

"It's alright! Remember how Erza and I were caught and detained yesterday? We managed to steal some of the guard's food when he was away, so you guys eat it."

It was a lie of course, but none of them doubted Jellal's words. They were never caught before, due to Erza and Jellal's protection and their obeying ways. It was easy to trust in the words he said, because they always came back after getting punished, didn't they?

Grinning to themselves, they started munching on the bread. After a long day's work, it was what they deserved.

Erza simply smiled at them, and went to sit at the back. Even if she was willing to give up her food, it did not do good for her stomach to see them eating. It would blow their cover away.

As Jellal settled beside Erza, he decided to bring back the excitable topic they were on just now.

"Ne, Erza, did you know that sunflowers are called that because they move to the direction of the sun? Beautiful, isn't it?"

Erza positively lit up as she heard those words. It certainly was beautiful, imagining big, yellow flowers all pointing towards the glowing orb in the sky.

Seeing her bright face, Jellal could not help but chuckle.

"When we get out of here, I promise I'll bring you to see those sunflowers."

Hearing those words, Erza's happiness and attention was immediately drawn towards Jellal, like that of a sunflower towards the sun. She nodded, even though they knew it was a distant dream – fragile, and unreal.

Three, sunflowers look towards the sun.

A/N: Hoped you enjoyed! :)