April 17th, X524 (2 PM)
Rosemary village

      After escaping from the town quickly, Jellal, Laxus and Lucy met their group at the camp. Wendy was healing the heavily injured archive mage, and Sherry, Eve, Sho and another stranger were standing near them. The sky dragon slayer explained to her brothers that Erza-san was saved by the villagers from Rosemary, and that the village head invited them to the village. She convinced them to agree, thus the group led by Ren, went to the hidden village secretly. Hibiki, Eve, Sho, Ren, Sherry and the two exceeds went to the village infirmary.

    The Princes and Princess headed to the village head's house. An old man in his long brown coat, whom they assumed that he ws the leader, opened the door, "Come in." They saw the familiar red-haired beauty wearing a purple kimono sitting silently on one of the bamboo chairs.

"Erza-neechan!" The sky maiden rushed to hug the red-haired girl as soon as she saw her. She hugged the older girl tightly, while the latter continued staring at the newcomers.

"Erza-san, I'm glad you're alright," Lucy smiled. None of the girls was aware of Erza's strange stare, however, Jellal did notice her confused look.

       As the village head told them to sit on the chairs, they did as he said. "What happened?" Laxus asked while sitting down.

"This lady was under an ancient Memory Loss spell," Rob explained, "She doesn't remember anything." Gasps from the girls echoed the room, as they looked at their Erza-san with unbelievable looks. "Also, she can't use her magic," the old man added.

"How do we lift the spell, Sir?" Jellal asked.

"The spell intensity depended on the victim's magic. The stronger her magic, the longer she took to regain her memory, unless the caster was defeated or Miss Erza's strong resistance broke the spell."

"Jellal-san, you should take Erza-san back to Magnolia tomorrow. I think Madam Porlysica can help her," Lucy told Jellal, before looking at the blond prince, "We'll find a way to defeat the Phantom Lord."

"I'm afraid you can't go back to the capital now, Your Highness. It's dangerous outside, Phantom Lord is taking control of GoldBridge and the surrounding towns and villages."

"Do you know who we are?" Laxus questioned, as he had been suspecting that this old man wasn't from a common family.

"You're Makarov's grandchildren," Rob smiled as he looked at them, "I'm Rob. Rob Belserion. I assumed you had heard of my surname, right?"

"You're Jiichan's friend. Nice to meet you, Sir."

'Belserion? This surname sounds familiar. Where do I hear it from?' Lucy thought. As if he knew her thinking, Laxus whispered, "Mister Rob is Madam Irene's paternal uncle,  basically he's Titania's granduncle."

"I see," Lucy whispered back. "Why is he staying in this village?"

       Knowing that the old man was silent for a moment, which meant he was waiting for a suitable time to speak out the secret, Wendy hold the red-haired girl's hand, told her brothers that they would go and check Hibiki-san and Eve-san, and then the two girls went out of the cottage.

     After a couple of minutes later, Rob started talking, "I've been here for an important mission, it was an order from His Majesty Yuri," He stood up, "Follow me."

      They headed to the north direction. The young mages saw that there was a closed door at the end of the path. It was the entrance of another tunnel in the mountain and was guarded by two men. Rob cut his palm just to get a few amount of his blood, then he let some drops of his blood spill in front of the door. The invisible barrier appeared in sight as the small hole in the middle became bigger and spread to the side, until it formed a semi-circular shape. One of the guards lit the fire on the wooden fire torch with his fire magic and gave it to the village head. The old man opened the door and entered the tunnel, followed by the two princes and the princess consort.

      Master Rob lit other fire torches along the way, the light emitted from the fire sticks was enough for the mages to see the path. At the end of the tunnel, there was a large enclosed dark cave. They saw a long sword, its lower half was inserted into the large stone pillar. The pillar was surrounded by a purple barrier.

"That sword was named Archenemy, it belonged to a Sabertooth warrior from 150 years ago. The legends said that the sword was able to kill the hundreds of enemies in the war," The village head explained, "It was a sword with unimaginable power. Fifty-five years ago, my father found this sword and brought it to Magnolia. His Majesty ordered our family to protect it. I volunteered for this mission, and hid it in the mountain. No one can sense the presence of Archenemy because of the magic spells inside and outside of the village.

"Why don't you destroy the sword?" Laxus asked.

"My father tried to destroy it, but the spell he used rebounded back and hit him. Since then, his legs were paralyzed, and had to retire from his position."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Sir," Jellal said.

"My parents always counted on my two elder brothers, I was a black sheep to my family. All I could do was protect this sword for the rest of my life. I couldn't let it fall into the dark mages' side. 

"Master Rob, do you have any information about Phantom Lord?" Lucy asked.

"I don't have details, but I did once face Geoffery ten years ago when Phantom Lord destroyed the Rosemallow Village. Geoffery used dispel magic, and he was also after Archenemy. That was all I knew." Actually, Rob hid the fact that he used the ancient magic spell in that battle, which caused his magic to be limited to his lifetime.

     Laxus could hear the loud noise from outside, "Let's get outside. I heard the noises," he said. As soon as they reached the entrance, they saw a man in the village uniform greeting them. "Master, the village is under attack."

      The group immediately headed to the main entrance and saw that five enemies invaded the village from the main tunnel. Ten village guards were fighting the dark mages, as three of the guards got hurt due to their weak magic. Lightning engulfed Laxus, and the electricity bolt dashed towards the invaders, thus electrocuting them. Laxus punched them with lightning fists, causing them damage as the defeated mages lay on the ground unconsciously.

"Geoffery dispelled my barrier spell," Rob said angrily, there was also anxiety in his voice. "Send them to the prison," He ordered his men. Meanwhile, Kagura, Ren and Sherry joined the group.

"That means Phantom Lord mages can enter into the village at any time," Lucy spoke, "We need a plan, but still, we're outnumbered."

"Ahh!" Jellal groaned in pain as he pressed his injured arm.

"Jellal", "Jellal-san", "Jellal-sama," his name was called out by his friends who were worried for him. "Your wound," Lucy added.

"Why don't you let Wendy heal you earlier?" Laxus asked Jellal, with a half-unpleasant voice, remembering that his younger brother insisted to go to Rosemary village instead of taking a rest.

"It's just a small cut. Don't worry. I know that the darkness magic couldn't harm me."

     The blond dragon slayer narrowed his eyes, "You can't underestimate the dark magic. Go to Wendy and let her heal you. Got it?"

"I will, brother," the crown prince replied.

• • • • •

April 18th, X524

"Your highness, why are you standing here?" Erza asked politely as she approached the crown prince who was standing outside of the guest houses.

      The red-haired beauty might lost her memory, but it was undeniable that she felt comfort around a certain blue-haired prince. On the previous day, she had a happy conversation with the prince and princess in the infirmary cottage. The young princess was very excited to tell about their past, and Erza could tell that they were very close to her. The blue-haired prince told her to call him by name but it was strange for her, so she addressed him "Your Highness," much to his slight disappointment.

"For some air." he looked at her and replied to her with a smile. She gave him a bowl of fish soup. "Thanks, Erza."

     While Jellal was drinkin the soup, Erza stood silently beside him. He didn't finish the bowl as he put it on the nearby wooden bench. "The first time we met, it was in the Magnolia forest, I was six, you were five. I saved you from an angry bear."

      He stopped for a while to gaze at her. She was listening to what he was saying. He continued, "Then we met again, on my 7th birthday, in the palace, because your mother brought you to the birthday banquet."

"Erza, you're my best friend, and the strongest female young warrior of Fairy Tail. Well, you still are," he smiled, "You are a good leader. You like strawberry cakes.. but you know.. you're scary when someone ruins your cakes."

      Deep inside, he was sad and guilty. He regretted that, after all these years she had stayed by his side for him, he couldn't even properly say to her a 'Thank you Erza' or 'I love you'. The guilt he felt at the moment.. a part of him wanted the old Erza back because of the current situation that they were outnumbered by Phantom Lord.. even though he knew she lost her memories right now.. He was selfish, right? 

      Erza listened to him silently, as she forced herself to smile. She still couldn't remember anything.. Nothing.. Even so, her heart ached when she saw his sad expression, and his forced smile on his face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears escaping from her eyes, "I still can't remember," she cried, "If only I can remember.. If I remember.."

      Jellal stared at Erza with wide eyes, this was the second time she cried in front of him, and it hurted him to see her so broken lik this.

"It's okay, Erza," he pulled her into his arms, "It's okay." He embraced her tightly as she cried on his shoulder.

       The reddish sky was beautiful painted with bright orange rays, and the red sun gradually descended into the mountains, which was a symbol of the end of a day. A couple was confronting each other under the sunset, as they let go of their responsibilities, their sorrow and their pain for a moment.. a very short moment, but it was still enough.

• • • • •

    Unbeknownst to them, Laxus and Lucy were looking at them from afar.

"I let him carry the burdens instead of me," the blond prince sighed.

"I heard that Erza-san collapsed twice today because she tried to regain her memories," Lucy said sadly. She looked at Laxus, "Your highness, what will we do next?"

"Battle and then victory," Laxus replied, "We came here to rescue Erza, so we can fight without her."

"Ju said they were on the way. They'll reach here the day after tomorrow."

"I don't think Phantom Lord will wait longer. They've been sending their weak mages for battle to test our strength since yesterday. I guess their ace members will attack us tonight or tomorrow morning," Laxus said, "The villagers have already evaded to the nearby mountains."

"Have a rest, Blondie." He walked two steps as he planned to check the security team which guarded the main entrance.

"Your Highness," Lucy called him.

       Laxus turned around to look at her. "Take care," she said. A half-smile crept onto his lips, he replied, "You too Blondie. Be safe." No matter what would happen in the unforeseen future, they had got each other's back, and their mutual understanding was always major support to their strength and will to protect their friends. They would never surrender to the dark.. never..
^_^