A/N: I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all that have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story! I was so uncertain when I first started writing it, and then it just flowed so easily, I didn't want it to stop either! I'm posting this update due to some requests (Kirinah, Eralinya, and icy-rain499). Your words have made me want to tackle these updates with such gusto! But sadly, life and other works get in the way. I've had this for a while but was waiting because I wanted to hopefully complete it in a two-shot. Rather than keep y'all waiting longer, I'll post this bit and hopefully get to the others soon – so it is shorter than the last one. I hope you like it. I DO plan on tying up the loose ends, I promise! ;)

Of course, there's the usual disclaimer. I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I simply love to write about them. They all belong to Hiro Mashima.

Erza found Jellal sooner than she expected, the tall dark wizard silently walking the streets of Crocus. But he wasn't just walking, he was searching, his eyes darting beneath his Mystogan mask, and she could see the tension in his cloaked shoulders before even reaching him. "Erza!" he called the moment his eyes lit on hers.

"Jellal!" she cried in a whisper, running to him with tears stinging her eyes. She didn't see the man disguised as Mystogan before her, she saw her Jellal, the man she just witnessed sacrifice himself for her and her friends, his body beaten and bloody and broken, his eyes haunted. The look he gave her just before Ultear started reading from the book had torn at her heart, and it made a sob catch in her throat now as she threw caution to the wind and flung herself into Jellal's arms. He caught her, immediately pulling her tightly to his chest, but also quickly stepped into an alley to avoid any unwanted attention.

"What happened?" he demanded, his voice deep with worry at her ear. "I felt dark magic come from the inn. Then Ultear felt some strange ripple in time." His arms tightened around her, and Erza could feel him take in a deep breath. His strength compared to the strength of the Jellal in the future was incredible because he was whole. He was alive and well. He was unharmed. She buried her face in his chest as these thoughts ran through her head, not caring about their previous unspoken agreement while also relieved that he was neglecting it for the moment as well. "I couldn't find you," he whispered, his voice wavering in just the slightest to show how concerned he had actually been.

Erza's eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath, forcing herself to step back and out of his arms. His hazel eyes searched hers, widening when he saw tears streaming down her cheeks. "Erza," he insisted, his voice louder as he took a step closer to her. "Is everyone all right?" He knew the quickest way to upset her was to hurt her friends. Of course he knew that.

A sad laugh escaped her lips as Erza wiped her tears away. "Everyone is fine," she breathed, but then she caught sight of her hands – hands that were still covered with blood – Jellal's blood. Her hands immediately started to shake at the memory of how his blood came to be there. "But something did happen," she finally admitted. Her eyes returned to his and she called upon her inner strength to keep his gaze. It had been so much easier to show her feelings to the Jellal in the future because the world was a mess and Jellal's wall hadn't existed. He'd had five years of living without her, five years of war to break the wall down. This Jellal knew nothing of that – his wall was perfectly intact and it made her want to laugh just as much as it made her want to scream and cry. This was going to be much more difficult. Jellal was silent, more like Mystogan in that moment than she cared to admit, and she wanted to shake him for it. "Let's go to the inn. I want to tell Jellal what happened, not Mystogan."

Without saying a word, Jellal nodded, not allowing her harsh words to sting, and together they made their way back to the Honey Bone Inn. The moment they stepped inside the Team A hotel room, Jellal pulled off his disguise, taking a deep breath as though the mask suffocated him. Erza couldn't help but drink in his face, committing his features to memory in order to prove to herself that he wasn't the scarred and beaten man she had just seen. Under other circumstances, she would find what she was about to say hard to believe, but this was Jellal she was talking about. He had seen and been a part of things that many would find impossible to believe as it was. Plus – her fingers slid over the note in her hand – she had proof for him, proof she had not even had the chance to read yet.

"What's this about, Erza?" Jellal finally asked after running a hand through his hair. It was a movement that made Erza's cheeks feel warm as his hair fell back into his face.

"Earlier today, Lucy bought a book from the market. While she was getting ready to go out tonight, Natsu was looking at it and I-I took it from him and began to read it." She looked at Jellal, who was looking at her with an unsure but attentive expression. "I know it's going to sound crazy, but what I read was not in a language I can remember, but I recognize it from the Tower of Heaven." His eyes immediately widened at those three words but he still said nothing. "It transported us five years into the future." She expected some sort of reaction, but Jellal gave none that she could see. He simply stepped closer to her.

"Okay," he started with a gentle nod of his head. "What did you see?"

Her chin quivered as her heart ached. Images flashed, superimposing the broken Jellal on the Jellal in front of her. "Crocus was in ruin, guilds were apparently at war, nearly everyone was dead." Tears burned her eyes when she stepped closer to him again, gingerly placing a shaking hand on his chest. The familiar wall was back up between them, and she was no longer sure such contact would be acceptable, no matter how much she was craving it and needed it for her own comfort. She needed to touch him to make sure he was real, to prove to herself that he was indeed alive. "Ha-Happy found you," she breathed, not able to look him in the eye.

Jellal gently grasped her hand on his chest, his hand warm as it surrounded her own. He said nothing, but didn't need to. His gentle gaze gave her the strength to continue. "It all apparently started with us disappearing tonight. You'd been at war for nearly five years. Dark guilds had taken over and most of the other guilds were gone or disbanded. Most of Fairy Tail had been wiped out. You-you were badly injured," she stuttered, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill forth. "This," she indicated the blood marring her hands, "this is your blood!" Jellal's eyes slightly widened at her words, his eyes going to her hands as she intended, but then they returned to hers. "There was hardly any magic power left, but it was your idea to take us to what remained of Fairy Tail to bring us back. You insisted that if we never went missing, the events that started the war would never take place… You and the others sacrificed yourselves in order to bring us back."

Jellal scoffed, his fingers running along the inside of hers. A pleasant tickling sensation shot up her arm. "Sounds like something I would say."

"You died!" she rasped, wanting to rip her hand away from him but not wanting to give up the comfort of his touch.

Sighing, Jellal cupped her cheek in his hand. His eyes were light when they looked into hers, trying to reassure her as she trembled. "Erza, I'm clearly not dead."

Her whole body shook with the force of her emotions and she closed her eyes. She hadn't been able to see his magic power drain away, but the thought of it had been enough to plant the image in her mind. And his wounds, his blood… "You were so badly wounded…"

"Erza!" he spoke again, his voice more harsh. His hand moved to the back of her neck, gently shaking her until she looked at him. They were close – as close as they had been on the beach what felt like ages ago. As soon as he realized it, he released her and stepped away, his cheeks darkening. "Where is the book now?" he quietly asked, scratching the back of his neck.

Heat rising to her cheeks from their previously intimate position, Erza crossed one arm over her chest, gripping the other arm nervously while she looked at the floor. It was still amazing to think that just a few hours ago the floor had appeared to be a war zone… "You and Ultear said something about attempting to destroy it while sending us back. It wasn't with us when we returned. If it made it back with us, the plan was to bring it straight to you." She finally looked at him. "Do you know anything about this?"

Jellal shook his head. "No, but Ultear might."

"You could read it."

His eyes snapped up to hers. "With my involvement in the Tower of Heaven, I'm not surprised." His self-loathing for his past crimes came through clearly in his words and Erza's heart ached for him. He took a step closer to her again, sucking in a breath before he admitted, "I'm glad I was there to help bring you back safely." I don't know what I would have done had I lost you, he admitted only to himself.

Erza blinked up at him. Jellal always made her feel so confused, so weak sometimes. It was a strange sensation for her. Should I do it now? "It was hard to see you like that," she breathed, looking at her hands once more and seeing his blood.

Jellal swallowed, the click in his throat audible in the otherwise silent room. "I'm sorry."

"You did tell me something before sending us back." She waited until he looked at her again, and her cheeks instantly darkened as she shifted nervously, not sure how to say what future Jellal told her to say. "You told me to tell you to stop being an idiot." His face fell into a frown but she continued, her own cheeks continuing to darken until they nearly matched her hair, "And to not be such a coward."

"I said that?" he snapped, his eyes flashing.

Pressing her lips together in a line, Erza nodded. "And you gave me this, to prove that it was you." Without waiting for him to say anything, she shoved the folded letter into his hand, watching as his eyes widened in immediate recognition.

"How did you," his voice trailed off, immediately changing his question. "Did you read this?"

It took great effort, but Erza forced herself to maintain his eye contact. "I haven't had time. But you told me to read it when I got back." She swallowed before quietly adding, "I needed to see you first."

Jellal swallowed and handed it back to her without opening it. Blood had darkened his cheeks, making the tattoo surrounding his right eye appear even darker than normal. "You know why I've been the way I've been," he stated in a voice so quiet Erza almost couldn't hear him.

"I do. And I understand why you lied to me," she paused before adding, "about your fiancée. You really need to come up with better lies than that, Jellal." She smirked despite the seriousness of their conversation.

His eyes snapped to hers and he groaned as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Damn it," he cursed, drawing a weary hand down his face. His eyes were dark and brooding when they opened again. "Erza, I never meant to hurt you," he started.

"I know. I don't blame you for any of that. I never have."

He scowled, the self-loathing evident on his face. He knew his lie had hurt her, regardless of if he meant it to or not. "You should."

"But I don't. I don't see that man, not when I look at you." She took a step closer to him and they were now only inches apart, the heat from their bodies reaching the other. This time when she reached out, she cupped both his cheeks in the palms of her hands, smiling softly when he gasped quietly, his eyes drifting closed at her touch while he shuffled a step closer. Almost as though he were afraid she would burn him, his hands gently came to rest at her hips, his touch light and gentle, but pulling her closer. She came willingly, the toes of her boots brushing against the toes of his, his head slowly lowering to hers until their foreheads touched.

"Then who do you see?" he whispered, his hazel eyes warm and open when he finally looked at her again.

Erza couldn't put her answer into words, so she didn't try. Instead, she hesitated, pausing for the breath of a moment, before closing the distance between them. The moment their lips brushed against each other's, they paused, eyes open and searching, breath mingling, before diving back into the kiss. Erza's grip on Jellal's cheeks grew firm, holding him in place, while his hands on her hips pulled her closer before sliding around her entirely. Their lips pressed more firmly against the other's, but still chastely, until Erza's hands moved to the back of Jellal's neck, her fingers sliding through his hair. To her pleasant surprise, Jellal deepened the kiss, gently running his tongue along her lower lip until hers parted to let him in, and the next thing she knew he had her pressed against the wall at her back. A low groan escaped him, his grip on her tightening a moment before he released her, breaking off the kiss and holding himself back from her with hands on her shoulders. "I cant," he choked, his eyes squeezed shut.

Tears stung her eyes anew, her lips trembling. How could he do that? How could he kiss her only to take it back a second later? Isn't that exactly what his future self was cautioning against? She felt as though Gray had just pierced her heart with a lance of ice, that Natsu had just thrown a hot ball of fire into her chest, but she also felt numb, and she lowered her head so that her bangs hid her face and put her hands on top of his. "I understand," she muttered, pushing his hands away from her. "I'm sorry I troubled you," she managed to murmur before her voice gave out.

"Erza!" Jellal called to her, reaching out and grasping her wrist.

"I won't stand in the way of what you see as your path to redemption, Jellal." Her voice sounded as dead as she felt inside, but she still couldn't look at him. "I won't bother you anymore."

His grip on her tightened and he pulled, spinning her back to him and shoving her back against the wall so forcefully the air was rushed from her lungs. "Damn it, Erza, will you just listen to me?!" he ground out, his eyes flashing from behind his hair. "If you had read the letter, you would understand." His voice calmed, no longer harsh with anger. "I distanced myself from you to keep you from my darkness. I don't want to contaminate your light."

Erza pressed a hand to his chest, where his heart beat fervently beneath. "And you don't think what you've been doing has brought you back into the light?"

His eyes darkened. "I will always carry my darkness."

"Then let me carry it with you," she offered, her voice soft. She could have easily been pleading with him, but she wasn't. It was an offer – an offer to join strengths, to share in joys and sorrows – an offer to share the burden he tried so valiantly to carry alone but shouldn't have to.

He gaped at her, his chest heaving from the strength of their argument (and perhaps something more), and his eyes wide. "The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you," he breathed, relaxing his grip on her wrist but still pressing her into the wall. "Or to bring you into my darkness." Her hands roamed over his chest, reveling in the life flowing through him, the strength and vigor he possessed, despite his stubbornness. When she remained silent, her eyes on her hands on his chest, he leaned forward, drooping his head to her shoulder, and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Erza," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry." A smile immediately graced her lips at the softness of his voice, the gentleness of his words. As his arms wrapped around her, her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him closer. "Can you ever forgive me?" he murmured, his mouth right below her ear and making her shiver.

She pulled back from him then, just far enough to look into his brooding gaze, the gaze she had always longed for. Her fingers trailed down the tattoo surrounding his right eye, then against his cheeks before plunging into his hair. She smiled at the soft tremor that went through him at her touch. "I already have," she breathed, and gasped when he covered her lips with his.