The Firefly Effect | jerza

24:00

Jellal couldn't stay still.

He would sit in one of the chairs for a few minutes before bouncing back up and making his way to the cafeteria where he would stare thoughtfully at one of three vending machines. Then, after buying a cherry Kind bar (and knowing very well he wouldn't eat it), he would stop to check out the balcony overlooking the front entrance of the hospital. After at least ten minutes, he would make his way back to the waiting room where he would frantically text Ultear and Laxus. So far, they hadn't replied.

No one had.

So here he is, in the waiting room, reading the ingredients printed in small letters on the back of the red wrapper of his bar because he has nothing better to do.

Jellal walks to the information desk and asks one of the nurses, "Are you sure there's no patient named Erza Scarlet?"

"You say she came here due to a trauma?"

"Yes."

The nurse double checks the hospital's database. "I'm sorry, sir. If she's undergoing a trauma surgery, she won't be entered into our system quite yet."

"What if she just got out of surgery?" Jellal protests desperately.

"It usually takes several hours after surgery for us to log in a patient's name. It's not good, but we've been short of staff for the past few months," the nurse admits. 

"Oh. Okay. Thanks for your help." Glum, he navigates his way back through the chaotic waiting room, only to find his seat taken.

This is what I get for coming to the hospital so late. 

Jellal had begged to ride on the ambulance to the hospital with Erza, but they had denied his plea and taken off without him. They said the multiple surgeries would take seven hours so he had decided to stay the night. If he was doing the math correctly, nine hours had passed. 

"Mr. Fernandes?" a young man in pale blue scrubs asks.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

"That's me," Jellal says, rushing toward him. "Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay."

"I think we should discuss this in a private room." He removes his patterned scrub cap, revealing messy brown hair. 

For a moment, Jellal can't seem to breathe. "She...didn't make it, did she?"

"I am so sorry. We did the best we could."

Jellal hadn't remembered heartbreak until now.

 The surgeon places a hand on the blue-haired man's arm. "Ana was on meds when she died. She didn't feel a thing."

Jellal's head snaps up. "Ana?"

The man frowns. "Ana Fernandes? Your daughter?" 

"Daughter?"

"You're Jose Fernandes, right?"

Relief washes over Jellal. "No, I'm Jellal Fernandes. I'm not...related." He searches the waiting room, wondering which one was Jose. Pity for the man wells up in his heart.