Endless adventure

Chapter 53

A fire all but manifested with the frustration that burned under Archer's flesh. That blue-haired bastard is too cocky around her, too sure of himself to not have some fiendish plan. She knows Jellal and she knows his created self. She knows them well enough to know that they would be smart enough to be very careful around someone who could kill them with the flick of their wrist. He should be sweating bullets whenever he's in her presence, instead, he smiles this cocky thing and has the balls to make Erza anxious. There are only two reasons he would be this careless around her, this confident and cocky when it came to her. Either he was very stupid or he had something up his sleeve. He must have something he thought he could hang above her head as a threat, a danger and that thought - realization - did not sit well with Archer.

She releases a long sigh, hand running through her hair as her eyes find Erza who sat almost motionless on their sofa. Silver sat just as motionless and quietly in her lap, for a moment not knowing what to do to help her.

"Erza"

At being addressed she released an almost strangled breath, shaking hands moving to gently hold Silver in her lap, letting the warmth and softness of her fur settle her nerves. She shouldn't be this disturbed, shouldn't be this anxious, this frightened. Siegrain is not the one he resembles, she had told herself that countless times. Still, her brain refuses to accept this as it forces all those terrible memories to the surface whenever she laid eyes on him. Every time he smiles she could only remember that little boy and that terrible wrong smile he held when she had found him. When he spoke he could only remember the cruel words that fell from his counterpart's mouth, words that hurt her to her core. She hated the way he affected her when he had no right.

"Will you be alright?" The question is followed by gentle hands cradling her face as she's made to meet red eyes full of concern. She held that particular warmth that Erza could only associate with her, one that had her almost nuzzling her hands as all tension retreated almost immediately.

"Yes, I'll be alright" even if that were a lie Archer makes it a truth one way or another. Erza sometimes found it quite adorable how Archer goes above and beyond just to make her happy whenever she's upset, even if she has to go to another town to do so.

Archer considers her for a moment, searching for any identification that would suggest otherwise. It takes almost a full minute for her to be satisfied, smiling in relief as she let her worry slink away

"I was ready to kill him," she says bluntly after a moment of thought. She's always ready to kill him when he made Erza that anxious. Any sign of discomfort caused by him warranted his instant demise. It is only by some miracle that Archer has not acted on her instinct yet.

"I know" Erza rubs Silver's fur more thoroughly, scratching at her ears and chin, earning a very audible purr from the feline creature.

"I do not like him"

"I know"

Her dislike for the man is as clear as day, even when she hides her expressions behind that mask of hers. Erza isn't entirely sure why she hates him, only assuming that she simply dislikes him because of the way Erza gets around him. She wouldn't put it past her. Though she has a feeling there's another reason she has such a strong dislike towards him.

He's a judas, Silver had decided. She has met him in a total of three times and each time he just felt off. There was something about him that wasn't right, something Silver couldn't understand. It was something that practically pulled at her whenever he's around. It had her as curious as she is apprehensive, watching him carefully whenever in eyesight, uncomfortable whenever he smiled or spoke so nicely. Perhaps it's the way his magic feels. It felt synthetic yet so very real at the same time. It's harder still to understand how it fluxes, sometimes grows when in the presence of that woman - the one with the crystal.