ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ •• ғᴀɪʀʏ ᴛᴀɪʟ²

01

"Promise me, you will calm down and listen to my explanation firs–"

"Erza, what are you talking about? Spare me that and tell me, what's wrong?" His dark green eyes looked at her with his forehead creased. He didn't know why but something in his heart just made him felt a little bit uneasy. Erza weakly tried to give him a smile. She was making him anxious with that kind of expression. She kept hesitating to utter a word and he's losing his patience.

The girl took a deep breath and whispered the words that changed the whole atmosphere. His face was white as chalk and his eyes and his mouth were frozen in an expression of stunned surprise and although he was staring straight at her, Jellal appeared not to notice her at all. There was zero thinking going on in his head except for one, he didn't want to believe his ears.

A dry chuckle escaped his lips. He just simply didn't want to get his hope high. Telling him that just broke his heart all over again. It should be a crime to get someone's hope high for nothing. A hope for someone was like a light in the darkness in their life, and pretending to lit a light in the dark was the worst. "Nice joke you got there, Erza. It's bad to play with me like that. Now, tell me the real thing."

She had seen this coming. "I'm not playing a joke on you, Jellal. Rae is alive–"

"Erza, stop! Don't ever–joke like that–again, Erza. She's gone. She–died in my arms." He sharply told her and turned around to leave the place but not after giving one last glance to the tombstone. I'll come back later. The wind blew his robe once he took another step to leave her and Erza quickly yanked his wrist with a frustrated face and what more shocked him was the tears in her eyes.

Erza lowered her head to let her red hair hid her face. "I won't ever lie about this damn thing!" Her body trembled because of the crack sob and Jellal did remembered it was his fourth time to see her crying. The first one was when they were kidnapped in the Tower of Heaven, second, was when Simon sacrificed his life and the third one was when Rae died. "She's alive, Jellal! Rae is alive!"

In that instant, his skin became greyed, his mouth hung with lips slightly parted and his eyes were as wide as they could stretch. There wasn't even a point in believing her lying. The image of her drying was still lingering in the back of his head and now, Erza was telling him she was alive. "Wha–What do you–mean she's alive? Is it–true? I don't want to get my hopes high–"

"It's true, Jellal. Ciel told us, he had seen a mysterious girl in the Mystic Forest and she resembled her. We believe, she tried to go through a portal to Underworld and Artemis explained about some ritual, involving the Moon Eclipse. We are planning to go there tonight." Erza pressed her lips together and put a hand to her face to hide the tears.

Moon Eclipse Portal, he had heard about it somewhere. His face lit up once he remembered Rae had talked about it to her when she told him, she's going to the Underworld for some matters and he asked her if humans were allowed to go there. She told him everything and a spark of hope ignited in his heart. He believed her. "Can I–come with–you?"

A smile slowly made its way to her lips. "Of course."

∆∆∆

Oh, I hope some day
I'll make it out here
Even if it takes all night
or a hundred years
Need a place to hide
but I can't find one near
Wanna feel alive outside
I can fight my fear

Isn't it lovely, all alone?
Heart made of glass, my mind of stone
Tear me to pieces, skin to bone
Hello, welcome home

"Hey, there." A bird chipped cutely at the girl as it was making itself comfortable in her palm as if the small creature was answering her. The girl smiled softly and raised her head to look at the sky slowly darkened as it was getting late. The same soft smile then disappeared instantly with shaky breaths of her mouth shook her body.

Her eyes frantically looked around to stay alert with the shadows. They always disturbed her and sometimes, they talked to her head. The girl swallowed her saliva hard and quickly stood up once she heard a whoosh sound passed her. Her arms wrapped her weak body as she can't remember how long it had been since she suddenly woke up in the forest.

She should be dead by now but she can't because those shadows did something to her body.

"Please, please, just go away." She couldn't remember anything and she was too afraid of the shadows to go out to get some food. Her lips were dry, her blonde hair was messy, her skin was dirty. They kept pushing her to give them her blood and she didn't understand a single thing. How could shadows moved? How could they talk? She just wanted to get out of this forest but she can't.

She had ran for many miles but the path was still the same. It's like she ran on an endless road. Everything around her looked the same and that small bird was her company, the one who kept her sane. It was white and somehow, she felt like–that bird gave her strength if it was possible. In her eyes, that bird was like a fairy. Its wings were soft as petals, they fluttered like confetti, swirling in the only gentle tornado the world can ever know.

Fairies were those of pure heart, those given magic by the creator to help them survive.

They were timid, seeking to hide as their first means of protection. Every morning, that bird would sing her a song, reminded her of something stranger to her, the magic of the astonishing beautiful fairies, made the flowers around them blossomed in their everyday glory. Color and happiness radiated from their smiling faces as they rushed around their home in search of someone to help–to revive.

And certain images appeared in her head. Faces of strangers yet she felt like a family to them. They had bright smiles on their faces and they were laughing around like there's nothing to worry about in this world. It's like they were simply enjoying each other's presence. And she loved to be able to hear the flowing of their laughs as it calmed her senses and brought her to their reality even though she was a stranger to them.

Mama!

Nee-san!

"Who are you? Why do you keep appearing in my head?" Those voices sometimes rang in her head when the shadows left her alone but she didn't mind it. It soothed her mind and made her wanted to feel alive. Stuck in that dimensional forest alone was making her losing her insanity and she didn't know how long she could hold on.

Name, she couldn't even remember her own name. She didn't know herself. She didn't know what color her eyes were. She didn't know whether she had a family or not. She can't remember a thing. Both of her hands clasped her head to shield her face from the shadows, trying so hard to ignore it. "Please just leave me alone, please, I'm begging you. Please just go away–"

Give us your blood! Surrender yourself!

She smiled weakly when the bird from earlier flew and left her alone again–left her to the shadows. Those dark creatures engulfed her body until it reached her nose and she was swallowed by the ground full of shadows. Things happened like that for her every day and she had gotten used to it. Tomorrow, she would wake up in the same place again and the shadows will devour her again.

Tears slowly fell on the cold surface. "Who are those people? Why am I seeing them? Family? Friends? I wonder if I have one? Would they come to take me home? If they are, please hurry up. I'm drowning and I don't know if I can hold on anymore. Please, save me. Just take me home." Her eyes fixated on the black mark on the back of her hand and she smiled before closing her eyes fully.

Mama, I'm taking you home.

27/6/20

well, this is dark.