Magic Of The Stars

Chapter XXIII

Erza stumbled through the trees, branches whipping at her face and tree roots tripping her feet.

She couldn't bring herself to move her arms to push the branches out the way and her mind was too far away to even contemplate looking down to avoid the roots.

Her arms were numb.

Her legs were numb.

Her mind was numb.

But her chest was almost exploding at the amount of pain it was encasing.

And even though her mind is numb, the same phrase kept repeating itself over and over again.

Jellal's in love with Lucy. Jellal's in love with Lucy. Jellal's in love with Lucy. Jellal's in love with Lucy.

Strangely, no tears were pooling in her eyes. She wanted to cry, sob, scream, and rage but her body won't do anything other than walk forward.

She didn't realize she was near the camp until she heard Gray's voice.

She hasn't gone far enough so they couldn't see her yet. She took a deep breath as she tried to collect herself.

I am Erza Scarlet. I am Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard. I survived the Tower of Heaven. I survived Edolas. I survived Grimoire Heart and Acnologia. I survived the Grand Magic Games and I survived the dragons. I can handle walking back to my friends.

Without further ado she walked forward and into the campsite.

She didn't look anyone in the eye as she sat down.

She didn't see Gray and Happy exchange worried looks.

"Oh hey Erza, I guess you're back," Natsu's voice rang out.

Erza's head snapped up to look at him. At the same time, Lucy stopped examining the runes on Natsu to look at her before looking around.

Frowning, she looked at Erza. "Jellal didn't walk back with you?" she asked. "And where's the firewood you were going to get?"

Erza forced herself to stare into her eyes without flinching or backing down.

Jellal's in love with her. Jellal has feelings for her.

"I gave the bark I found to Jellal," she said calmly. "He wanted to keep looking and said I should head back."

On the outside she was calm, but on the inside she was confused.

Why does he love her? What does she have that I don't? What is it that made him choose her over me? Me, the person who has always been there?

Lucy hummed in affirmation before looking back at the runes on Natsu.

"We're back!" Meredy called out as she, Wendy, Carla, and Lisanna walked out of the woods.

They placed the water down before walking over to sit down.

Meredy frowned as she glanced around. "Hey, where's Jellal?" she asked.

"Apparently, he's still gathering firewood," Lucy answered without looking away from the runes she was examining.

This isn't good. These are more complex than I had original thought.

"I'm back," Jellal's voice rang out.

Erza didn't bother to look towards him, preferring to keep her gaze on the ground in front of her.

Gray and Happy glanced him, then at Erza, then at Lucy, then back at Jellal.

They were both thinking the same thing.