White Canvas

jellal/erza; t, angst.

~ in which Erza has anterograde amnesia; the inability to make or retain new memories,

and in one way or another, the inability to ever remember her new neighbour, Jellal Fernandes.

disclaimer! i own none of these characters, only the plotline.

my inspirations to write this are 50 first dates, and Changdictator's Anterograde Tomorrow.

Good morning, Erza.

You met with an accident two years ago. As a result, you are suffering from anterograde amnesia; a disability which does not allow you to create new memories. But do not worry, all that you need to know can be found in this journal—it contains just about all the memories you have collected this year thus far, all the important details of events which had occurred, and many photographs for better recognition. You will be fine. Have a great day ahead!

Love, Erza.

It was seven in the morning when her alarm rang, and it was seven-thirty by the time she was done flipping through the leather journal lying by her pillow. It took her quite some time to perceive what was going on, but by the last unwritten page of her journal, Erza Scarlet had fully understood the unfortunate incident that had happened to her.

That explains a lot about the emptiness in my mind about yesterday, she thought to herself as she glanced on the page of the latest entry: 10th February 2014. Nothing much happened yesterday, she concluded, just daily routines and extra reminders on what she was supposed to do today. Erza closed her eyes and inhaled, soothing her mind as she does so. It's been two years, huh?

A flash of distorted memory rushed across her mind. Erza could feel her heartbeat doubled upon the sudden remembrance of the ill-fate that had been the cause of her disability. The bright red tractor and its blinding lights, the loud honks which seem endless at that time, the ear piercing scream…

They were the last memories in her mind before everything went blank.

A huge corkboard on the wall by the door—that was the first thing Erza had noticed when she made her way across her bedroom. She stopped by in curiosity, marvelling at the various photographs and notes pinned on the board. A smile found its way towards her lips when she saw the familiar face of Mirajane Strauss, her best friend from high school, standing beside a blond man who as far as Erza had remembered, was the senior quarterback of their school. What was his name again? Erza frowned just as her eyes landed on the note right below the photograph. Oh, right. Laxus Dreyar! Wait, what? Mira and Laxus are married?!

Sure enough, the note which Erza recognized as her own handwriting glared directly at her. She was grinning by the time she reached the end of the note, both joyous and awestruck at the thought of her best friend being married to the athlete of her former high school. Erza recalled faintly the memory of Mirajane when she was seventeen and how she was literally fawning over the famous jock of Magnolia High School, how every other teenage girls were equally obsessed with the young man. To think Mira would be the one who caught his attention in the end!

But it was then that the smile faded from Erza's lips. Had she been there on Mira's happiest day? How did the ceremony go? Was Mira wearing her dream bridal dress she had vowed to when she was eighteen? Was Erza the bridesmaid for Mira? Erza was beginning to feel as though she was about to burst into tears when she spotted another note below the note she had read previously.

There is no use being all upset about not remembering!

If you are curious, there's a pink folder in your desk drawer specifically labelled to be Mira's wedding.

Take a look when you want to! –Erza

She chuckled to herself. Indeed there was no point for her to be all sappy over something she cannot change. Erza made a mental note to check the folder later on, her eyes now travelling to another photograph of a man and a lady of her own age. Recognizing the lady as an acquaintance from high school, Erza proceeded to read the note which came along with the photograph; You remember Cana Alberona right? She was in our maths class in senior year. The man beside her is her father, Gildarts. We're actually working for him at this current moment as a waitress. That is basically the only job we can do given our condition. Gildarts and Cana are really nice though. They care and they understand. –Erza

"A waitress doesn't seem too bad," Erza mumbled to herself with a faint smile. She scanned the board for any other important notes or trivia (like how her favourite bakery has shifted place few months ago) and proceeded out from her bedroom when she realized it was almost time for her to go to work.

It's going to be a good day! Erza mentally told herself as she stepped out from her apartment. Fumbling with her keys, she barely noticed the pile of boxes beside her unit. When she finally looked up from her set of keys, she was surprised to see a young man with blue hair standing just a few steps from her, a box in his hands as he stopped to smile at Erza. "Good morning." He greeted politely and Erza nodded back in response. "Good morning."

There was a lapse of silence before the man cleared his throat and placed the box back on the floor. "How rude of me," He laughed slightly before jutting out a hand. "I'm Jellal and I'm guessing that you're my neighbour?"

"Erza," She accepted his handshake with a smile. "And I guess so too."

"Well…I probably should get back to moving these into the apartment." Jellal shrugged at the boxes around his feet. "It was nice meeting you though. I hope I'll see you around?"

Erza froze, remembering her condition. She contemplated whether she should tell him, opting finally for another time as she nodded her head. "It was nice meeting you too. Have fun moving those in."

And that was the first time Erza ever met Jellal Fernandes.

Surprised that it did not take Erza a long time to find her workplace, she entered Fairy Tail Café with a bright smile on her face, eager to see Cana and Gildarts and eager to start her day productively. As there were no customers yet, Erza spotted Cana behind the counter almost immediately, waving to her in a friendly manner and having Cana wave back when the latter saw her. "Someone's a little chirpy this morning," Cana teased, somewhat relieved that her friend was in a good mood today. There were days when Erza would step into the café not knowing what to do, or being extremely terrified with her surroundings. There were also days when Cana had to calm her down and assured her that everything had been and would be alright. Cana was simply glad that Erza was being the Erza she had known since high school and before the accident which robbed her of her happiness. "What happened? Did you meet a heartthrob or strike the lottery?"

"Let's just say I got off the right side of bed today." The scarlet-haired lady said with a positive expression. "And let's just say that I did indeed meet a heartthrob today."

Cana stopped polishing the glass in her hands, interested at the remark her friend has made. "Really? Who? Where?"

"He's a new neighbour with weird blue hair…" Erza recalled the meeting of Jellal and smiled unconsciously. "But he's really friendly. I think he'll make a good neighbour."

"Ohh…interesting," Cana grinned just as she spotted her father walking out from the storeroom. "Hey pops, Erza met a guy today. She said he's cute."

Erza blushed. "I never said he was cute—"

"That's nice to hear, Erza darling." Gildarts winked from his position. "But did you tell him about your amnesia?"

Upon hearing that, Cana nearly threw the glass in her hands at her absolutely dense father. "Pops! Sheesh!"

Erza laughed, surprisingly the brunette. "I haven't yet. I might tell him soon, but not now."

"I want to see him someday. You should bring him over next time after you two are acquainted." Gildarts smiled encouragingly, ignoring his daughter's steely glare. To Cana's amusement though, Erza nodded her head and smiled. "Sure do. One day, perhaps."

Gildarts grinned back just as two figures entered the café. "Yo old man!"

"Hey Natsu, Lucy." Gildarts smirked. "You two are seriously coming together more often now, huh? Anything going on between you two that I should know of?"

The blond who entered beside the young man named Natsu blushed before waving her hands vigorously. "N-no, nothing's going on!" Lucy then saw her fellow workmate looking attentively at her from Cana's counter, and she quickly shifted her attention towards her. "Erza! Hi!"

"Hello, Lucy." Erza greeted warmly, remembering the photograph of this young lady in her journal and the label of "friends and workmate" underneath.

"What about me, Erza? Who am I?" Natsu pretended to whine and earned a jab from Lucy in his stomach in return. "Don't be rude, Natsu!"

Erza stifled a giggle. "It's alright, Lucy. I remember you, Natsu Dragneel. You and Lucy are a few of those people I would never forget."

Natsu grinned widely. "That's the spirit! Now let's clean up this place before old man Gildarts complain we don't do anything again." Right after finishing his sentence, Natsu ducked quickly to avoid Gildarts flying notebook, laughing heartily as he disappeared into the kitchen. "Call me an old man again and I will kick you out of the café!"

Lucy shook his head and sighed. "Tell me why am I friends with that idiot again?"

Cana feigned a loud cough that seems to sound something like "because you like him," but Lucy did not catch that. Erza, however, did. They both exchanged a glance and smiled amongst themselves again. "I hope you'll find today a delight, Erza." Cana winked and resumed her previous task of polishing the glasses on the counter.

"I've already found it, Cana." Erza replied instantaneously with yet another smile as she looked around her. "This place is perfect."

The second time of Erza's first time meeting Jellal was the following morning. She woke up before her alarm rang, giving her some spare time before having to go to work. As usual, she reads the journal which was lying by her pillow obediently, and this time, concluded that she needs to catch a breath of fresh air. Erza headed out towards her veranda, finding solace in the morning light and the flock of birds that flew by. She wondered what she did yesterday; was seeking solace required? From her latest entry, she read that it was a good day yesterday, but basically that was all she had written. She sincerely wished the yesterday her had written more in her entry, but nonetheless, knowing that her day went well yesterday was good enough.

If only she could remember.

Erza turned around to head back into her comforts of her home, but halted when she saw a young man on his own veranda belonging to the unit beside hers. There was a pause before the man saw her, and he nodded curtly at her. "Good morning, Erza-san. What a beautiful day, isn't it?"

Who the heck is this guy? Since when is anyone living beside me?

"Umm…" Erza hesitated, "I suppose so."

The lack of enthusiasm from Erza made the young man frown. He studied the expression of the scarlet-headed woman, not quite understanding why she was looking at him in such a foreign manner. Hadn't they met yesterday morning? "Are you alri—"

Before he could finish his sentence though, the woman rushed back inside without another word said. He merely stared at the empty space of her veranda in confusion. Er, what just happened?

He got his answer later in the evening, when he bumps into her again and she clarifies an issue about her with him. He merely looked at her sceptically, somewhat intrigued as she shrugged at his indifference. "It's up to you if you want to believe it. I'm telling the truth though." The female disappeared into her house, leaving Jellal to form his own conclusion. He figured he would always know of the answer tomorrow, so he went inside his house as well and decided not to think about his weird new neighbour.

Jellal spent the whole night thinking about her, though.

"Wow, so you weren't joking about your amnesia thing."

The sudden voice which greeted her made Erza looked up alarmingly, her eyes meeting with that of the blue-haired man she had just met in the lobby of the elevator. "What?"

The man was now bearing an expression Erza knew was a mixture of amusement and sympathy, and that somewhat annoys her. This stranger appeared so abruptly, and he was already judging her? "I'm sorry, have we met before this?"

"Do you have your phone with you?" The man promptly asked, ignoring her question as Erza raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Yes, I do. Why?"

"Let me borrow your phone for a second. Please?" He half-smiled and half-pleaded, and Erza found it difficult to refuse his request. She passed him her phone, preparing to launch herself at him should he decide to run off with her gadget. But he didn't, and she remains rooted on the ground. The elevator arrives just then, and he gets on without waiting for her. She rushes behind him, still wondering what he was doing with her phone.

It was the shutter sound of her phone camera that made her realize what he was up to. The young man grinned as he passed back her phone a few seconds after. "My name is Jellal Fernandes, and I am your new neighbour. With my picture in your gallery, you should be able to remember me now, right?"

Erza unconsciously blushed, but she said nothing.

"It's important to remember." Jellal winked, a goofy smile on his face as the red-head found her face heating up. She quickly looked away after nodding, and as the elevator reached their floor, she left as quickly as possible without looking back. Although she reached her unit first, Erza (pretended to) fumble with her keys again, just to stall time for her new neighbour to reach his own unit. She then stole a glance at him, watching the way he unlocked his door with fascination, but quickly glanced back down when he suddenly looked at her.

"Something wrong with your lock?" He asked out of politeness, and Erza shook her head immediately. "N-no."

Pause.

"It's just that…" Erza felt a lump on her throat. "It's been a while."

"For?"

"To have a neighbour."

Erza looked up fully and met his gaze. This time though, she smiled genuinely. "It's important to remember, right?"

Jellal chuckled, amused. "Yes, it is."

That was the third of their first time meeting, and Erza vowed to herself, the last.

a/n: I was inspired to write the concept of "Anterograde Amnesia" from 50 first dates, and Changdictator's Anterograde Tomorrow (a kpop fanfic). The contents and plotline are not the same, of course. Only the concept. Concrits are very much welcomed, and I hope you'll drop reviews too. Will be updating soon. This is just a three-shot though, meaning it will end at Chapter 3. :) Thanks for reading!