Seeking Forgiveness (Jellal x Reader)

Chapter 12

3 Years Later

Jellal, Meredy and Ultear drag themselves up the hill towards the Guild hall watching as it slowly, but surely, came into view. Simultaneously, the trio let out a sigh of relief at seeing their home. For the past, few years they'd barely been able to spend more than a night before a clue about Zeref reached them, and they left the next day to check it out.

Of course, they'd all been fake or the news had reached them too late. Meaning a wasted journey. To make matters worse, when they got home you were never there, seeing to one sick person or another, only spending a few minutes with them a day before they were pulled away on another false claim.

So, on their way back they decided to take a well-deserved break. The Grand magic games was only one month away, so a break before they once again scouted the games for the year sounded perfect. Their beds were calling them, and your cooking. You finally decided to pick up the still after so long and everyone loved your cooking.

Three years was a long time though. Three years meant you and Jellal got closer, to the point that Jellal realised exactly what made his heart soar when he saw you, what filled his stomach with butterflies, what filled his dreams with your face and what made him yearn for your touch.

Jellal had fallen head over hills in love with you.

But, Jellal being Jellal, immediately denied his feeling as soon as he realised them. He didn't think he deserved love, Erza loved him and look what happened to her. He knew about her feeling for a while, but used them when he was evil, used them against her to reach his goal of resurrecting the man he was now trying to destroy. It was his year in prison that made his realise how he felt about the scarlet haired requip mage.

He never had a chance to act on his feeling before Erza died, and he regretted it forever. For hurting her and never making amends for his deeds. Then he met you, you filled his life with light again, you believed in the good in him and you showed him that there was a reason to fight for the good in the world.

So, Jellal stayed silent. Years of admiring you from a distance, was enough for him, barely. But he was glad you never dated, at least to his knowledge anyway. But he knew you were safe and he could easily keep an eye on you now that he was living on you.

The trio pushed open the doors as they walked into their home. It was bigger on the inside then it appeared, but another two floors were still added to accommodate the ever-increasing visitors that needed healing. So, the Bunglow was now a very large house. The bottom floor housed most of the visitors, the second floor was for people that needed to stay that little bit longer than overnight and the top floor was the official guild floor. Off limits to everyone but the members of crime sorcière, not that anyone knew that was what it was for. The magic council was still desperately searching for Jellal, Meredy and Ultear after all this time, so they still had to lay low. The floor even had a fire escape for when they needed to sneak out during the exceptionally busy periods.

The small bell above the door went off, a small signal that someone who needed help was entering the house, but it was usually never heard over the painful screams of whoever needed healing. The inside of the house was very quiet, it was almost unnerving that there wasn't at least one complaining person demanding your attention. But steady, quiet humming floating down the stairs from the top floor.

Jellal smiled to himself and quickly bolted up the stairs. He couldn't stop a dark feeling settling over him however. As if he was about to receive bad news. When he reached the top, he quickly pulled of his cloak, throwing it over the rack and walked towards the humming.

You were in the kitchen, wiping down the sides, humming a tune a travelling merchant taught you when he fell of his horse and got a concussion. You made sure he was alright for a day, and in turn he taught you this tune. It was catchy, and had been stuck in your head for days but you didn't mind, it reminded you of your favourite song.