Erza Scarlet

No matter what you try to steal from me... the light that lights my path cannot be stolen by anyone. Even if I cannot see, even if I cannot hear, there is a light within me. The path I have walked alongside my friends will light my tomorrow. I have nothing to fear!

The feel of the hot water soaking straight to your very soul.. the pleasantness of cleansing away all that is unclean... and in the case of girls, a little bit of skinship!

The fact that you can't physically feel the hot bath... is just too tragic beyond words.

Artwork: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/d7/d8/18/d7d8186b328e9df44a28c8faa784644b.jpg

Mun

Mun name/journal: Kay
Mun Age: 23
Contact: dragon8writer on aim and plurk.
Timezone: PST
HMD: Here.
Characters currently in game: Barbara Gordon, Primrose Everdeen

Character

Name: Erza Scarlet
Fandom: Fairy Tail (manga)
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Canonpoint: Chapter 411.

Character Journal: fairy_tail_knight
Permissions Post: Here.
Character Inventory: A folding war fan – although it looks like this, it's actually made of heavy steel plates. It weighs several pounds. The fan spokes end in spikes, which are deceptively sharp to the touch. It could potentially be folded up and used as a club, or it could be used to jab someone with the spines. It could also be used to block, if spread out. It's much more short-range than even Erza is used to, and having to physically manipulate a single weapon for multiple purposes will be new to her. Generally, she would simply swap out specialized weapons for any given purpose.

If this doesn't work, I have backup options, too!

For her single useless item – a small painting of the guild hall and its members.

Abilities: This details the majority of her abilities – but it does miss a few things that I think are worth noting.

First, in regards to her Telekinesis – while it's true that her first act of magic was to lift and launch various weaponry, I'm not convinced “telekinesis" is an entirely accurate description. In the manga, so far, she has never used it for anything but weaponry. It's possible she has the power, but... Unless it's shown on screen, I wouldn't be comfortable having her use it without ICly practicing it first. (It's generally implied that with the right teacher, or the right books, someone with enough magical power could pick up the basics of anything – even though I'd say some people are more naturally suited to certain magics than others.)

Second: Erza has an artificial eye. It's immune to ocular magics, most notably illusions. It also halves the power of spells that rely on eye contact – for example, when she was turned into stone by meeting Evergreen's eyes, the spell was much weaker on her than the other members of Fairy Tail.

There's also more mundane abilities. Erza is arguably a good cook – or at least, she probably likes her own cooking. I can't recall anyone in the manga ever getting a chance to eat it. Still, she canonically carries suitcases absolutely filled with food, and we did see her cooking in the middle of the m arc.

I would label Erza as a potential game breaking character – meaning that she has the durability and physical strength to level a city, but.... One building at a time. The guards would have plenty of time to stop her using the VOCA controllers. The versatility of her powers is also much reduced, by losing access to her wide array of magical armors and weapons.



Background Information: Here! I'll be going over a lot of it in the personality description, too.
Personality Description:

To understand Erza's personality, and how it developed, it's important to understand her history. She was born in a simple village known as Rosemary, an apparently kindhearted and brave girl. The earliest knowledge we have of her is from when the “child hunts” began, with cultists who worshiped the dark mage Zeref gathering up children to work as slaves. Adults were apparently not needed, at this point, as the orders were to simply kill everyone but the children. As a result of that, it's generally assumed that Erza's parents are dead – although her claiming not to have a family name indicates more to the story.

Her formative years have yet to be explored, but we do know that Erza sacrificed herself for another child when the slavers came. She found a lost girl and told her to hide in a nearby bin, leading the slavers away and getting captured in the process. Considering the story's timeline, she could not have been much older than eleven.

We next saw her as a slave. A terrified little Erza, worried about getting caught and killed if she tried to escape. Only the words of her crush, Jellal, gave her the courage to go on with the attempt. Not as wonderful an idea as it seemed, since they were caught.

The slavers asked for the mastermind to step forward, to take the punishment for the whole group. It was Sho's plan, a scared little boy who was tearfully trying to take responsibility. Erza decided to take it off his shoulders. Jellal actually beat her to it, stepping forward just as the words began to leave Erza's mouth. It was an establishing moment for all three characters – the good natured, but scared little boy, the terrified girl who would be brave for the sake of her friends, and the natural leader who unflinchingly tried to take it all on himself.

Cultists aren't precisely known for keeping their word, though. Most likely feeling that her punishment would hurt the group most, they decided to blame Erza for the escape attempt. The torture that followed cost Erza her right eye. More important to her childhood, it caused Jellal to come rescue her. He killed several guards in the process, and was ultimately captured in her place.

As I mentioned earlier: no matter how scared Erza was, no matter what she would put up with for herself, she was even then willing to be brave for the sake of others. That was especially true for Jellal, who she admired so much. The boy who had given her the last name Scarlet. Unlike Jellal, however, Erza did not move alone. She rallied the slaves into rebellion, leading them to pick up whatever weapons they could find and strike out against their torturous masters.

The plan went well, for a short time, until the magic-wielders began to attack. Their staffs sent destructive blasts toward the slaves. They scattered Erza's makeshift army. While she screamed that they had to fight, that they had to rescue Jellal, everyone began to turn and run. The rebellion almost gave way right then, when a blast came toward Erza. It was intercepted by Rob, the “grandfather” of the group – an old member of Fairy Tail, who had been teaching Erza the wonders of magic. He had taught her that magic, at its best, was freedom. In his presence, she used to ride on a broomstick and pretend she was flying, even there in slavery. That man gave his life for her.

The grief and rage that followed was a cataclysm, unleashing the tremendous magical power that Erza would later be known for. Every discarded weapon rose up, and launched at their attackers. It wasn't so much a counter attack as an utter slaughter, the awakening of her true potential. Rallying the slaves again, she overpowered their oppressors, took the tower as her own, and rescued Jellal in the name of freedom. Not to mention a very serious crush.

It's important to recognize just how momentous this was, this battered and bruised little girl who had almost been too scared to even try escaping, leading the revolution for the sake of someone she cared about. Loyalty, and protecting those she loved, was important to Erza even then. The bonds she felt with her fellow slaves were real, and the power she had at her disposal probably surprised her most of all. All the same, Erza was too late. While caught, Jellal had been brainwashed by Ultear, a bitter young woman attempting to awaken the dark mage Zeref. Thinking that he had inherited Zeref's will, Jellal began to use magic of his own. He slaughtered the remaining guards in cold blood, right before Erza's eyes, and declared that he would finish what they started. He said that he would regather the slaves, feed them and clothe them and educate them on the wonders of the dark god they would be bringing back. He wanted Erza to join, but she refused. This wasn't the Jellal she loved, nor was this the future she wanted. She wanted him and Sho and Wally and all her friends to be free.

So Jellal cast her aside. He said that if Erza wanted freedom, she could have it for herself alone, and he used his new found power to send her back to the mainland. He also gave her a warning – that if she told anyone about the tower, that if she or anyone else came snooping around, he would have no choice but to destroy the evidence. In other words, he would kill everyone there, beginning with his former friends.

That was how Erza entered Rob's guild, Fairy Tail. Following his lead, she showed up at the guild and became one of their mages. She was very antisocial at first, siting alone while in the guild and going off to cry alone. Her solitary nature put her at odds with Gray, who thought she should show the senior members more respect. Following her one day, intending to antagonize her, he actually convinced her to become more familiar with her guild mates. He demanded to know why she was crying alone, if she truly didn't need anyone.

In the scattered glimpses of her childhood, we see that she did change a little after that point. She talked to her fellow children with a smile, though she kept her emotional distance by being quite strict with everyone. Natsu and Gray were terrified of upsetting her even then, acting buddy-buddy in her presence so that she wouldn't scold them about fighting within the guild. It was actually quite hypocritical considering she had her own rival, Mirajane.

Erza probably went on jobs and paid for her supper in the guild, as well as her room in the female dormitory Fairy Hills. Fairy Tail became her family, with the Master as the father, and his word as the law that bound them together.

Wounds like hers don't just go away though. No matter how much time passed, her former companions were never fully gone from her mind. She knew that they were still out there, forced to work on that tower, and that she could not save them. She did not dare try, because if she so much as showed up they would be killed. With those old wounds throbbing inside of her, Erza tried to protect her heart by armoring her body. Although she would occasionally wear casual outfits, she admitted that she was not comfortable outside her bulky armors.

She also resisted growing truly close with the other guild members. She became one of the top fighters, an S class mage, at fifteen, and took on powerful missions by herself without back up. She spent large amounts of time away from the guild, and when she was back, she terrorized everyone in the fun loving building with demands to drink less, be quieter, and not cause trouble for the Master. She was the sort of person who shouted orders and punched out anyone who got in her way, whether they be a fellow mage or a train conductor who wouldn't answer her question fast enough. Normally flamboyant people quivered and put on their best behaviors for her sake, referring to her as the disciplinarian of the guild. It wasn't a title that she relished. Rather, it was a title that kept her just a little bit apart from everyone and further "protected" her heart.

This side of Erza slowly began to change when she teamed up with Natsu, Gray, Happy and Lucy to form Fairy Tail's “ultimate' team. At first it was just a matter of convenience, needing some extra assistance to take on a unlawful guild. Then Natsu, Lucy and Gray decided to take on an S class mission, and Erza was dispatched to drag them home. It's important to note that, initially, Erza had no intention of helping them complete the quest. She did not care about the people who needed help, or more accurately did not want to care. She was furious that they had broken the rules of the guild that was her home, and put themselves in danger. She had no desire other than to drag them back and punish them for their behavior. It was only Gray's ultimatum to kill him or get out of the way that broke through the rage armoring Erza's heart and reminded her of her own ideals for justice. As a result, she ultimately worked together with them to fulfill the request, though she largely refused the reward. Part of her sense of justice was that since the guild hadn't officially accepted the request, they could not take the money for it. Another part was that she left the instigators of this problem alone. Even though they had tried to kill people, they had not succeeded, and ultimately they had been following their own sense of justice as well. Which wouldn't save Natsu and the gang from their own punishment, of course. Fairy Tail rules and outside laws are on a completely different ranking for her.

Then they came home to find their guild, the home she, Natsu, Happy, and Gray had grown up in, attacked. Three of their members were nailed to a tree, and someone was attempting to kidnap Lucy, their friend. Again, the situation required her to fight alongside her guild mates, putting everything on the line to avenge their family and protect one of their own. Erza personally absorbed a massive magical cannon attack meant to wipe out the guild and its members. It took up quite a bit of her strength, and stopped her from lending too much power in the battle as a whole. Which didn't stop her from taking down one of the most powerful members from the attacking guild. Ultimately, though, it was the combined efforts of the Fairy Tail's members that led to their victory.

Perhaps it also made a dent in Erza's internal armor, seeing everyone come together like that. She personally suggested that Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Gray, and her make their team permanent, since fate seemed to be continuously throwing them together. After all those years of keeping herself separated, Erza enjoyed being part of the group.

Still, the wounds from her childhood remained. Although she tried to relax with Natsu and gang at a casino, she had to admit to herself that it was useless. She could not fully relax unless she was in armor. In other words, she couldn't truly let her guard down. She was too scared of getting hurt or losing the people she loved.

Thankfully, for the sake of Erza's future, the past has a way of catching up with people. After eight years, the “tower of paradise,” designed to resurrect Zeref, was complete. It only needed two things: the magical power to activate, and a human sacrifice to provide the vessel for Zeref's return. Jellal wanted to use Erza for that sacrifice. Perhaps, he thought it was poetic, considering she was the one who helped him seize this power - albeit accidentally. Perhaps, some part of him hoped she would stop him or maybe he was just being especially sadistic. He had apparently blown up all the boats they could have used to escape the tower, and blamed it on Erza, claiming that she went mad with her new found magical power. In other words, Jellal went out of his way to turn Erza's one-time companions against her. The friends she had spent years wishing she could save were the ones who dragged her back to the site of that childhood trauma.

Erza escaped, as Jellal had perhaps expected. She fought her way up the tower to take him on. Along the way she reunited with her old friend Simon, and made amends with Sho, explaining the truth of what happened. With Simon's help, her other friends stopped fighting her. That didn't mean it was all smooth sailing, though.

On her way to Jellal, Erza was pitted against Ikaruga. The woman tore through every suit of armor the redhead wore, tearing apart the defenses she had put so much pride in. This lead to a very important realization for Erza: she put too much focus on defense. Rather, she tried too hard to fill the gap between her and the outside world with metal, covering up the “chinks in their hearts” through which friendship and bonding could occur. Erza declared that her fear made her weak. Crying and scared that she couldn't save anyone, keeping everyone at a distance, she really didn't have the power that she needed.

Erza stripped herself of her armor, then. Finally accepting her companions in her heart, and the strength that they gave her, she donned nothing but chest bindings and simple pants. She rid herself of defense and focused all her power into her blade – all her feelings into her attack. It enabled her to win the battle. It also became her strongest “armor” - what she wears when things are at their most serious, and she can't afford to worry about her own body. When she wears this, it is the equivalent of putting all her trust into the bond she shares with her friends, so that she can protect those friends with all her power.

With that battle done, Erza was finally able to reach Jellal, and she almost defeated him. Unfortunately, for all the evil Jellal had committed, Erza still believed in her former leader. The strong and compassionate boy who had come to save her. She wanted to think there was still good in him. So when he pretended to have come back to his senses, and claimed he'd only been Zeref's puppet, Erza believed him. She accepted it, thinking that the magic council was about to unleash the magical cannon Etherion upon the tower anyway. From the very start, her plan had been dying with him, erasing the guilt she felt for being unable to protect her friends in those eight years.

It was all part of Jellal's plan, though. He used her moment of weakness to place a binding spell on her. The cannon did descend, but it was just a way for him to charge the tower with magical energy. Erza gave up hope for a moment, and it was only through Natsu's interference that Jellal was temporarily halted. Jellal was strong, however, and nearly defeated the dragon slayer. Erza, in turn attempted to intercept a blast that would have killed Natsu, still willing to die for her friends. Erza's old friend Simon gave his life, taking it instead. He had always loved and believed in her. In the end, thanks to the determination of her friends, Jellal was defeated, and Erza survived despite her near suicide attempts.

She still almost threw it away, though. The tower began to collapse, and the magical power was losing stability, The entire thing was going to explode and wipe out all her friends. Erza thought that if she joined with the magic, as Jellal had intended, she could control and redirect the blast. It would also tear her apart at a molecular level if she did so. That didn't stop her. Erza would have gladly sacrificed her life for the sake of her friends, and the erasal of past debts.

While in Etherion, Erza dreamed that she had in fact died. Fairy Tail had a memorial. She was given a permanent ranking among the top ten wizard saints, to commemorate her bravery. No one was happy, though. The friends that she had sacrificed her life to save, who she had wanted to live and smile forever, were all crying. Markov claimed she was like a daughter. Natsu was screaming that she couldn't possibly be dead. It wasn't what Erza wanted. That's what she cried out as she faded away. She hadn't wanted to see this misery on her friends faces.

She woke up in Natsu's arms, her friends crying out in excitement to see her. She realized that Natsu must have gone after her, into Etherion's storm of power, and dragged her out. Her friends were screaming out in happiness, telling her they had been worried. Natsu told her never to do it again, that all of them were the same, suffering their pains together. That was when Erza finally came to a realization: you don't die for your friends, you live for them. You struggle to survive with them. You stay by their sides and trust your bonds with them to see you through each day, no matter how bad it gets. You survive alongside your friends.

It was arguably the most important realization of Erza's life. After that point, after everything that had happened, she was finally able to move on. For the sake of everyone who had died for her, and everyone who loved her, she decided that she would never treat her life as worthless, or sacrifice herself, again.

Simon was dead, and Jellal seemed to be gone, but Sho, Milliana and Wally remained alive, and now knew the truth. They chose to go their own path rather than sticking closer to Erza, and reminding her of what she had been through. She grieved to lose contact with them, but understood that they had to find their own path, the same way she had found Fairy Tail. They were free now, and with that, the wounds finally began to heal. The Erza we know began to develop.

After the Tower of Paradise Arc, Erza finally seemed to find her true place in the guild. She no longer spent all her time reprimanding trouble makers, or yelling at the guild members about their habits: their drinking or their fighting. When Erza first debuted in the series, her appearance would stop everyone in their tracks. After this, she was more a part of the fun, fighting and laughing with everyone else. She also changed her dress code a little. Although she did continue wearing armor, her main outfit became much less bulky, a more casual armor meant to represent that she no longer needed to put such strong barriers between herself and the world.

In her free time, and in the Fairy Tail specials, we see some more of Erza's cute side. She's someone who loves desserts, like strawberry shortcake. She enjoys “barrel surfing,” even knowing it'll end in disaster. When she plays pool, she shoots the cue hard enough to burst through the balls, and smiles in satisfaction. She's terrible at acting, but acts like she's good at it, and has a happy smile on her face regardless of how badly she stutters while on the stage. She takes even the silliest competition seriously, giving her all to everything she joins- likes Miss Fairy Tail. Heaven help her if you put her in a casino, because she'll take that serious too, wearing her bunny outfit and clubbing anyone who gets in her way.

She has a cute and even playful side, in other words. She's also very socially awkward, thanks to living her life among a bunch of rambunctious wizards who don't know the meaning of delicacy or quiet. In one special, she actually demanded that a maid-waitress strip and donat her clothes to the mission. It says something about Erza's strength of personality that the woman did just that – and it says something about Erza's personality that, having dressed as a maid, she marched up to her target's table and slammed down a sword. The outfit wasn't even necessary, per se – but Erza probably thought something like "If you're doing a mission in a maid cafe, you should dress like a maid." Besides, she loves cosplay. Her favorite armor is the playboy bunny suit– or at least that's what she told Sorcerer Magazine. Maybe she had even intended to make use of the disguise, when she made the maid strip, before she lost her temper at hearing the target claim membership in Fairy Tail.

Erza has odd views when it comes to nakedness anyway, even if it's not as bad as Gray's exhibitionist habit. Erza's requip magic allows her to exchange one suit of armor for another, but there is a split second shift in between. In other words, Erza has been frequently, if only momentarily, naked – even in the middle of battle. She never seems to mind. For guild mates in particular, she doesn't care if they see her naked, and has frequently offered to bathe with Natsu and Gray like they did as children. Truth to tell, Erza doesn't really seem to fully understand the social impact of nakedness or sex appeal when it comes to a human body. She supposedly likes to read books that are a little lewd in nature, so she's certainly aware of the concept, but so far as actual bodies go... She must understand to some extent, considering she joined a beauty contest and owns seduction armor. Yet for so long, her body was just a weapon honed to protect the guild. For more practical purposes, Erza still has trouble seeing it as more than that.

No matter how goofy and socially awkward she can be, though, Erza remains a force to be reckoned with. Spill her strawberry shortcake, or land even an accidental punch on her person, or worst of all misuse the name of Fairy Tail, and Erza will rain her personal fury down upon you. Part of Fairy Tail's rowdy nature is that they kick even each others' asses, and Erza isn't an exception when properly riled up.

Of course, their true power is reserved for enemies of the guild. While Natsu is most famous for saying it, Erza embodies it as well as anyone. It doesn't matter if it's the world at stake, or the government who's against them. It doesn't matter if you're doing it to save your best friend's life, or because you're hoping to line your pockets with gold. If you stand against the guild, if you stand against Erza's family, she will fight you with everything she has. She said it best of all in chapter 376.5 - “I don't care if you steal or shoot... But I won't ever forgive anyone that forge's Fairy Tail's name. Not in any way. Not in any time. We live with pride in our guild's name. This seal we've carved into ourselves isn't merely decoration. It's the proof of our bond as a family. Binding our fates together, we put our lives on the line. Anyone that steps on that holy vow... Be they evil or good, I will cut them down.”

That said, it isn't as if they're a cult. Each member has their own ideas of justice, and the Master himself claimed that Fairy Tail is bout following their own form. That's why Erza was ultimately willing to put her mission on hold, to help Natsu and Gray complete their S class mission. That's why Erza, after striking down the false Fairy Tail member, did not turn her into the police. As a member of Fairy Tail, Erza has her own sense of justice that ultimately guides her. It's not always connected to the laws of the kingdom or the magical council, both of which Fairy Tail has occasionally stood against. They went against the dark guild Oracion Seis of their own volition, for example, regardless of actual laws against picking fights with guilds, dark or otherwise. They've also attempted to defend former criminals, who they personally felt had made amends and counted as their friends.

Erza keeps a more level head then many of her friends, though. She's an intelligent tactician, who knows when it's best to hold back. One might stand against the kingdom, but one doesn't attack it unless they don't have a choice. One has to be aware of strategy before they go out and attack. But once she has a goal, an enemy to fight, nothing will stop her from protecting her family. She's already lost her birth family, and her slave-family. She won't ever go through that loss again – or put others through the pain of losing her. As she puts it to Kagura, in the magic games, throwing away her life would be spitting in the face of everyone who had sacrificed themselves for her. Just as she protects this guild, this guild protects her: by giving her something to live for, and not just something to die for.

That's the essence of Erza. A strong willed woman who's willing to do anything to protect her family, who has her own sense of justice and goes after it without much concern for the world's laws, except where it might negatively affect her loved ones. Someone who is protected by the feelings of her friends, which gives her the courage to stand and fight, Not just for their sake, but for the sake of the family as a whole, which includes her. Even when they're split into teams, like in the magic festival, Erza still protects Fairy Tail as a whole. We see that in a recent chapter, in the battle of a hundred monsters. Every person in order was given the right to challenge any number of the hundred monsters available, with one point for each – but if they lost, they would gain no points for the round. It would be impossible to guess how strong the monsters they got would be, as any still available could be put against them. Erza chose to battle all one hundred, not only winning the battle, but ruining the challenge for the remainder. The reason why she did this, instead of just guaranteeing her victory with fifty one monsters, was not to show off. It was so that the second Fairy Tail team that had entered would not be left in last place. By destroying the challenge, she protected her friends – because even if they were competing, they were still members of Fairy Tail.

Next, I'd like to take a little time to explore Erza's relationships with the members of Fairy Tail. The Guild has a lot of members, and while each of them have interesting personalities and wonderful back stories, most of them don't have enough screen time to have formed a direct and visible relationship with Erza. We know that she occasionally borrows books from Levy, that she approves of Juvia, and that last time she checked in with Gajeel she was still a little suspicious of him, or at least doesn't consider him fully “ready” to be counted among the guild's top members. She seems to like Happy and Carla well enough, and has happily sparred with Pantherlily. She hasn't spent much time talking to Wendy. The two do have a sweet tooth in common, though, and apparently went on a mission together to get a rare dessert as a reward.

Her oldest relationships in the guild would be Markov, Laxus, Cana, Natsu, Gray, Mira, Lisana, and Elfman. It can most likely be assumed she's on decent terms with Lisana and Elfman, despite the latter's habit of saying "If you're a man!", and she's probably fond of Cana, even if she does disapprove of the excess drinking. Laxus turned quite vicious for a while, even briefly turning against the guild, but he's still the Master's grandson and he did stand by the guild when they needed him most. I would classify her relationship with him as cautious, but optimistic.

Mira falls into the rival category, though they could probably be called friends too after all this time. The two of them used to get into constant fights. After the Grand Magic Games, Erza was subjected to a punishment game for losing at rock paper scissors. Mira made her dress up as a maid and spanked her as a form of humiliation. After midnight, when the punishment games ended, Erza returned the favor. As perverted from its original form as it might be, the rivalry remains strong.

Her relationship with Gray and Natsu has changed a lot. When she first met Gray, he thought she should show him respect. By the time we saw them next, he and Natsu were both terrified of her, something that was still true during her first adult appearance. In truth, they're both still pretty scared of pissing her off, as she's fully capable of kicking them into next Wednesday. They've come a long way from trembling in her presence though. The days when Natsu could only say “AI!” when she walked into a room are gone.

Natsu has personally defended Erza at times, declaring that he would protect her from crying and attempting to save her from the council's arrest. He very much wants to beat her in battle one day, and she very much encourages this, looking forward to when he grows into his full strength as a team member. That said, she's still quite wary of being put in a position of vulnerability around him, like when she was magically turned into a child. Among her first thoughts were how Natsu, and Gray, would take the opportunity to test their strength against hers.

Gray seems a lot less intent on picking a fight with Erza, though, being a lot more cool headed, and even a little bit cold. He too would go out of his way to protect her, though, as a friend and a guild mate. Yet he was also included in the fantasy as taking advantage of her smaller form. No matter how well they all get along now, Erza did use to come down on them quite heavily for all the fighting they did. While she trusts him to back her up in battle, she wouldn't want to be physically vulnerable in front of him, during a more casual setting. Rivalry is a big part of her bond with those two, as well.

Master Markov is the father figure of the guild, meanwhile. He views them as his children, and for members like Erza he's the only parent available. His word is to a large extent law for Erza, and his judgment is trusted. As someone who believes in thinking for herself, she will go against him if absolutely necessary. For example, when he ordered everyone to escape Tenrou Island to get away from Acnologia, she ultimately came back with the rest of Fairy Tail to stand by their Master's side. Perhaps it had something to do with her earlier fight against Azuma, where she realized it was her friends who were always protecting her, and not the other way around – their love and loyalty which gave her the strength to continue. She couldn't abandon her father figure after a realization like that. Some things are more important than orders, or logic.

Lucy is another member of her team, and one of the newest members in Fairy Tail. She lacks the childhood friendship Natsu and Gray have with Erza, but that also means she lacks some of their instinctive fear. She's actually been shown to have a deep respect for Erza's strength, and Erza seems to care about Lucy's opinions as well. When she's fighting on Tenrou, and considers trying seduction armor, her immediate thought is “What if Lucy saw?”, indicating some concern for the woman's opinion. Apparently she also crept into Lucy's bed for company during the grand magic games. Lucy is the girl she spends the most time with, after all, so she's probably Erza's closest female friend. I'd say another part of it is that Lucy's pretty much the closest thingto a normal human being in the guild, especially among the women. Wendy is a child, Mira turns into a demon, Cana drinks alcohol by the barrel... While Lucy looks to Erza as a role model of strength, Erza looks to Lucy as a role model for a "normal" person, with actual social skill. As mentioned earlier, Erza remains quite socially awkward when it comes to behavioral norms outside the guild.

She does have relationships that precede her guild membership, though. Simon, who always had a crush on her, is dead. Rob, who taught her magic, is dead too. That leaves Millianna, Sho, Wally and Jellal among the living. The first three are simple enough. Truth be told, she was away from them for eight years, so she doesn't actually know their current personalities that well. All the same they're still dear friends to her, and very close to her heart - even if they're mostly preserved as "childhood friends" in her memory. Millianna in particular showed up in the Grand Magic Games, and Erza became furious when Minerva threatened the girl's well being. From what she said to Kagura, she still views Millianna as mostly an innocent kid, too. All the same, even though they may be walking “different paths” Erza views them as her dear family members. They're a part of her that she'll always love, like little siblings one doesn't get to see as much as they'd like.

Jellal is the most complicated of her relationships, though. He was the initial leader of their slave rebellion, and her hero. He gave her the name Scarlet, after her hair, saying it wasn't right that she didn't have a last name. He was her first love. Even when he was at his worst, she wanted to believe there was good in there. When she managed to survive the tower's explosion, she told Lucy in confidence that she believed Jellal might have reverted to his old self at the very end, and helped to save her. After all, she really should have been torn apart a molecular level long before Natsu found her.



Even if Jellal was her angel, he was also her demon. Under the influence of Ultear's brainwashing, he cast her out of the tower and cut her off from the only family she had left. He made her live eight years of pain and guilt, feeling like she couldn't save anyone. Eight years of cutting herself off from everyone, feeling as if she didn't deserve more and scared to reach for it in any case. Eight years crying on the inside, while smiling for the guild. He hurt her so much. Hurt everyone she cared about, all for the goal of bringing back a dark wizard who would only hurt more people.

Then he died. Then he came back. Jellal had lost his memory of everything bad that had been done. The only thing he could remember was Erza's name – that, and the hope of Natsu's power. The brainwashed programming seemed to be gone too, and with his partial memory he tried to destroy the dark magic Oracion Seis had set after, and to kill himself so as to repent and “release” Erza from her pain. She didn't want that. She didn't want him to have forgotten, either. Seeing him brought back all that hurt and anger and rage. So easy to forgive when he was gone, so hard to forget when he was standing in front of her, claiming no knowledge of all that suffering. Seeing Jellal again brought back love, and memories of kinder times – but it also brought back all the hurt that he had put her through. The friends that he had hurt, and the man that he had killed. Erza wanted him to remember the pain that he had caused, so that she could be angry at him for it, a simple emotion to cling to when everything was so confused. Yet with his memories gone, he had apparently reverted back to the Jellal she had known. The Jellal she had loved as a child.

Erza demanded that he live and repent, rather than taking the easy way out, and accepted his help. Working with him began to ease some of her anger and bring back some of her fonder memories. Together with him, her guild mates, and other allies, they were able to defeat their enemy, Oracion Seis. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to work out their feelings. Just as Erza declared her desire to be there for him, the magic council swooped down to arrest Jellal for his crimes. Erza froze at the thought, realizing that she didn't want to be separated from him. The others, sensing her feelings, attempted to physically overpower the council, yelling that Jellal needed to come with them.

Ultimately, the level headed Erza put a stop to it. Putting aside her own feelings of grief for the sake of the guild's future, and realizing what would happen if they tried to take the council head on, Erza told them to stop. She took responsibility and gave them permission to take Jellal away. Perhaps it would have been different if a guild mate was in trouble - though she might have tried legal recourse first, regardless. Either way, she couldn't allow her guild to fall for the sake of her feelings, when Jellal really had committed the crimes. She cried at losing him, but returned to her family.

The bond between them remained, however. When she was fighting on Tenrou Island, Jellal felt her pained fight all the way from his prison cell. His thoughts reached her, reminding her to stay strong. Her thoughts didn't linger on him, though, thinking it was impossible to have heard him at such a distance. They turned instead toward the guild and her friends. It was them that Erza needed to focus on, their lives at stake. No matter how much she cares for Jellal, Erza's family will always come first. That is the only certainty in her relationship with him. Their meetings weren't over yet, though.


Acnologia attacked Tenrou, and the guild members almost died. To protect them, Fairy Tai's first Master Mavis sealed them away from the world. The seal lasted seven years, during which the guild mates outside the island suffered and the guild dwindled. It was considered the weakest guild, laughed at and teased, much to the ire of the core members upon their return. During that time, Jellal also escaped from prison. Rather, he was broken out by the very Ultear who had once brainwashed him, and her semi-adoptive daughter Meredy. Although he had recovered his memories, Jellal remained his better self.

They met with Erza, to ask for help in identifying a dark magic found in the games. In payment, they increased the magic power of several members, including Erza, so that they could close the seven year gap created by their absence from the world. More important for her, was the chance this gave her and Jellal to talk.

They almost kissed, actually. Perhaps their lips even did touch, before Jellal pulled away. He claimed he had a fiancee, so they couldn't see each other. It was a rather clumsy lie, Erza later said, but at the time she pretended to believe it. It seemed to her that this was answer, in and of itself, and one that she could accept.

Jellal had recovered his old self, but that couldn't wipe away his crimes in the eyes of the world. He was a fugitive on the run, and joining him would have meant either putting her guild in danger or leaving Fairy Tail. Those were two things she couldn't do, even for him. His clumsy lie just made things easier. To an extent. The truth is, the feelings they share will never be simple, so long as they both continue to live. She has a connection to them, but she will not put her friends at risk to explore it.

Erza's a good and loyal person, after all. That isn't to say she doesn't have a darker side, though. As strong willed and righteous as Erza normally is, we don't see a lot of true darkness in her, but she certainly sees it in herself. When she met her Edolas counterpart, she declared that "Erza Knightwalker" had her weaknesses and darkness, so she must also have Scarlet's heart and loyalty. A wonderful thought, but it betrays a little something of how our Erza sees herself. While they might embody different aspects, Scarlet knows that not everything she does is good.

Her inability to connect to others in her early years is a prime example. The way she beat Loki to a pulp for flirting with her, or how she would knock out people who didn't give her the proper information. Knocking Natsu unconscious with a stomach punch, to ease his travel sickness, was another example. Not even a blow to the head, but a painful stomach punch to overwhelm him. When her fear is at its highest, Erza kind heart doesn't always shine through. In her weakness and inability to connect, she can cause pain to others while trying to protect herself.

This game will actually be a stressful challenge for her, that will bring back some of her darker aspects if she isn't careful. She'll be trapped away from her friends when they need her the most, without a villain that she can fight directly, and without any direct way home. It'll be a lot like the Tower of Paradise, that same feeling of helplessness in the face of her friends' danger.

When stressed, Erza will try and find an enemy to fight. If she can't, she will try and find something to distract herself. She won't ever forget her friends, she won't put them out of her mind or seal her heart again, because she knows that isn't what they would want. However, it will be a fight with her own weaknesses to not give in to despair. She will have to keep herself focused on other things.

Her goal in this life isn't anything so big as world peace, or to rescue everyone who needs help. It's not to vanquish all the evil in this world. It is simply to live life to its fullest, with her guild mates, to “put her life on the line” knowing that they will be doing the same. Living happily with everyone is her dream. She will not give up on it in her time here.


Third Person Sample:

Erza clenched her weapon, attempting to burn the unfamiliar weight into her memory. If this was to be the only weapon available, then she would memorize its every contour. Whatever it took to defeat her unknown enemy and return home. Return to the friends who were counting on her – before they felt a need to come after her, instead. That they would find their way to her was beyond doubt. The members of Fairy Tail always protected her... But Erza was not going to allow that, now. They had another battle to fight with Tartarus. Revenge on these kidnappers would have to wait.

Her last memories before awakening here still shone through her mind. The final blow against Kyouka, giving all the strength she had to offer. Collapsing on the ground, still wondering if it was enough. No. Kyouka had fallen. She was certain of it. Whether she had been in time was another question. If she had, then perhaps she could afford to rest in this odd place for a while. If she had not, then her guild mates would need her more than ever before. If magic, their life force, had been wiped from the continent...

When she had first woken up in this odd world, unable to access her magic, she had been convinced for a moment that she'd failed. She should have known better. She could still feel the magic inside of herself, she simply hadn't been able to release it.

In the outside world, though, she had access again. It had been surprising how important that was to her – but it shouldn't have been. Though power wasn't necessary, though she would gladly sacrifice it for the sake of her friends... Though Erza said those things, perhaps no mage could truly understand what it was like thinking that a piece of them had been taken away. It was a feeling she didn't want to put her friends through.

Erza was convinced, in any case, that this place had no relationship to her world. The place had too different a feel to it, like when she had woken up in Edolas. Perhaps that meant time would flow differently as well. She had to hope that it would flow slower and not faster, then. Her friends would not go seven years thinking she was dead.

No. Rather than that... She would not go seven years without seeing them again.



First Person Sample:

The first person sample of last time, with a little editing: hopefully all right since it didn't receive any notes:

Return me to my friends at once. [She has placed her communicator on the chair, the better to hold a steady view. She wants to be seen standing tall and proud. She hasn't changed her clothes or washed – so instead of a white suit of armor, she stands in her most powerful battle outfit, the last thing she equipped before her transport: bandages wrap around her chest; simple black pants, flared out with flames at the end, adorn her pants. Her entire body is covered in dirt and cuts and bruises. She wants to be seen as she came. Ready for battle.]

I thought we had ended the transfer between worlds when we left Edolas. [Never mind that little confusion in the Celestial Spirit World.] But I do not have time to waste here now. [Her eyes narrow.] My companions are counting on me. [There's a slight quiver in her voice at that – the clock Is ticking. Will it be too late when she gets back? At least her senses are back, now that she's away from the demon's magic.]

I cannot allow anyone to get in my way. If you need my guild's assistance, you can submit a request like anyone else. If you think you can keep me here, though, you're wrong. Nothing will stop me from finding my way to my friends. Even if I have to cut my way through worlds to find them.

My companions will guide me home. [She smiles, faintly, her eyes sliding down.] I'd be useless to you without them anyway.


~~~~~~

Also, I've got this over here marking her intro into another game.

What do you think??????

The earliest information we have about Erza comes from when she was most likely around eleven. A cult worshiping the dark mage Zeref had come to Erza's home, Rosemary Village. They intended to build a “R system” tower, in order to resurrect their master. To this end, they had captured numerous slaves, of many ages – but in Rosemary Village they had a more explicit target. Perhaps they were looking for someone to do detailed work, or crawl into small spaces, but on this raid they killed any adults they came across. The only ones they took were children. It's generally assumed that Erza's parents were also murdered, though this has never been confirmed. All that's known for a fact is that when the other children listed their family names, Erza claimed not to have one. She was given the name Scarlet in honor of her hair.

As for Erza's own fate – she took time to hide another child, but there wasn't room for her to hide as well. She was captured as a result. Since these little bits of her childhood always come in the form of flashbacks, we can't be sure for how long she was there. They never mentioned an exact time frame, but she didn't seem to grow much older between the times of her capture and her eventual rebellion.

The next time we saw her was during an escape attempt. She had bonded with several other children: Sho, Wally, Millianna, Simon, and Jellal. There was also an elder named Rob, who had apparently been teaching Erza the basics of magic. He was not part of the escape attempt.

Despite the bravery Erza had shown in hiding her fellow child, she was scared to the point of tears when it came to escaping and getting caught. She knew they would torture everyone. She was convinced by the others to make the attempt regardless, most notably by the words of Jellal – the leader of their little group, a kindhearted blue haired young boy who Erza had a very obvious crush on.

Unfortunately, the escape plant failed. The slave leaders decided they only wanted to punish the instigator the plan, which was to say Sho. Although terrified, Sho would have claimed credit for his own plan. Erza would have beaten him to it, willing to be brave for the sake of one she cared about – but Jellal beat them both to the punch. The Slave Leaders apparently thought it would hurt them all most to punish Erza, though. They declared her to be the true instigator, and dragged her off to a cell.

Erza was tortured. She lost her right eye. Jellal attempted to save her, and in the process killed two guards, and said that it was time to fight back. While they definitely forgot about little Erza after that, it was only because they were more focused on torturing her crush.

That was what inspired Erza to start the rebellion, striking at a guard herself and bringing her fellow slaves – children and adult both – out of their cells. They overwhelmed the common guards, picking up whatever weapons they could find as they went, and made good progress for a little while. Until the enemy mages came. With only one elderly mage among them, they were at a loss when the magical shots began to fire. Simon had the lower half of his jaw blown off. Her soldiers panicked and broke, leaving Erza to scream that they still needed to fight. She was a perfect target for the taking.

She wasn't killed, much to the misfortune of those slavers. Rob intercepted the blast and died in her place. Rob who had told her about the wondrous freedom of magic. But while magic can be tied to hope and determination, it can also be fueled by anger and rage and despair. Erza's magic awoke, on that battlefield – a tremendous amount of it. Every single weapon in that hall lifted itself into the air, and they all launched at the mages. An utter massacre.

With Erza at the head, the slave rebellion was an utter success. Every guard was killed or incapacitated, while Jellal made her way directly to Jellal's room. A heroic reversal of her earlier state – but unlike Jellal, Erza was too late.

Jellal had been brain washed by magic during his brief capture. He thought it was the influence of Zeref, teaching him to hate. In reality, it was the magic of Ultear, someone who thought that meeting Zeref would allow her to redo her life (so no matter how horrible she was in this life, it wouldn't matter.) Erza didn't know any of that, of course. All she saw was her kindhearted hero, casually slaughtering the two guards she'd just knocked unconscious. Laughing.

He spouted the wonders of hatred to her. He wanted her to join him in resurrecting Zeref. Erza refused, of course. All Erza wanted was freedom – for herself, for him, and for their friends. She wanted to experience the wonders of magic and freedom that Rob had taught her.

As a reward for clearing the tower for him, Jellal decided to give her that “freedom.” By which I mean that he tossed her out the tower and off the island it was built on. He told her that if she ever returned, or if anyone came sniffing around, he would slaughter everyone in order to hide the truth, starting with their friends. Then, unbeknownst to Erza, he herded everyone off the escape boats and blew them up, blaming Erza, so that he could go about turning them from destitute slaves to willing worker bees. They were every bit as imprisoned, but now blamed it on Erza.

As for the redheaded mage, she washed up on shore. With no where else to go, she sought out Fairy Tail, the organization of mages, or “guild” that Rob had belonged to. Telling the Master of her debt to Rob earned her a place in the guild. Master Makarov also saw fit to have an artificial magical eye made for her – one that enables her to see as well or better than her normal eye, and which is immune to illusions. Still, fixing the hole in her face didn't fix the one in her heart, and the guild members themselves couldn't immediately penetrate the armor she put up. Erza stood away from the other members and the children, ate alone and went off to the local lake to cry.

Gray, another child in the guild, went to confront Erza for ignoring them, and not paying them him the respect he thought she should. In the end, though, all he did was demand to know why – if she didn't need anyone – she was going of to cry alone.

The question seemed to have some effect. The next flashback of her childhood showed Erza a little more cheerful, on the surface at least. She still wasn't very close to the guild members, though, and the children in particular were terrified of her power. Gray, who had once yelled at her, would cower from her strength. So would Natsu, for that matter. Though the two seemingly hated each other, they would pretend to be buddy buddy if it meant that Erza wouldn't beat them to a pulp.

She also had a rival in the form of Mirajane, the demon-mage was constantly picking fights with the Knight, Erza. She did not, however, have any close friends.

That hadn't improved by the time the main story started, either. It had been eight years since her time as a slave, and she was nineteen years old. Far from cheerful, she was known as the Disciplinarian of Fairy Tail. Adults and children alike were terrified of her. She brought home a giant horn, as tall as her and no doubt three times as heavy. She asked if there would be a problem storing it in the guild hall. It's still there. Instead of f in her dorm rooms, of which there are three. Those store her numerous armors and weapons when they aren't stored in her magical space.

Despite her aloof and fearful attitude, however, that was when Erza first begins to have an effect on the series as a whole. That is when she joined forces with Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy – what some would call “The strongest team.” Not to mention the most destructive team in term of property damage.

Essentially, Erza required their help to stop a dark guild Eisenwald, a guild that had been ordered to disband due to accepting assassinations, but had stayed together outside the laws. Erza had overheard them talking about a powerful spell. She explained this to the mages while riding a train, an unfortunate choice considering Natsu's extreme motion sickness. Erza in fact knocked him out, to put him out of his misery, which caused him to miss the entire explanation.

Since he was unconscious, Erza accidentally left him on the train, where he fought one of their intended targets without realizing it, having missed the story. The mage, Kageyama, had been holding the skull shaped flute which Lucy recognized as the death flute Lullaby, capable of killing anyone who heard its music.

They chased after the dark guild, arriving at a train station, where they came up against the guild, including its strongest member Erigor. Erigor claimed that they intended to kill everyone with its music, leading them to believe he wanted to use the speakers of the train station. That meant they had to both stop him and evacuate, which they tried valiantly to do. Erza, however, had burnt much of magical energy fueling the magic card that brought them to the station to begin with. On top of that, Erigor managed to put a wind wall around the station, trapping Erza and the others inside.

Interrogating the guild members at their disposal, Erza discovered that the true target of this mission was Clover Town, where several guild masters – including Makarov – were gathered in a meeting. If the group intended to stop this, they would need to escape in a hurry.

The team realized quickly that they could use Kageyama's ability to dispel magic to their advantage. There is little loyalty in a dark guild, however, and his old team mates stabbed him in the back to prevent him from dispelling the mage wishes. This would have trapped them had Happy not remembered a key magical item he'd been given in an earlier adventure, a key for the Stellar Spirit Virgo, who bonded with Lucy and allowed them to simply tunnel beneath the wind wall.

They took Kageyama with them, to prevent him from doing, and went after Erigor, with Natsu and happy flying ahead. In fact, by the time they caught up with Natsu, Erigor had already been defeated.

Kageyama betrayed them, though, taking the Lullaby fluit in order to complete his original mission. By the time the team arrived to stop them, master Makarov had already convinced Kageyama to give up his plans.

If was at that point that the Lullaby flute revealed its true form, as one of the demons of Zeref. A very weak demon of Zeref, easily defeated by Erza, Natsu, and Gray in a matter of moments. The only downside was that its fall tore through the guild master's meeting place.

Despite the anger, however, it could still be called a general success. As a reward for helping her, Erza even fought Natsu at the end of the mission, and trounced him handily.

Unfortunately, there had been a lot of destruction during the course of the mission. A train station had been wrecked, the meeting hall of several guild masters had been destroyed – the Magic Council, which ruled over magic in the land, was required to do something. That something was to arrest Erza, which put her face to face with an old enemy, Siegrain. An identical twin to Jellal, he was one of the ten wizard saints, appointed as among the most powerful mages by the council, and actually on the council himself. He reminded Erza not to speak of “Paradise Island.”

Meanwhile, the guild members were grumbling over Erza's treatment, and Natsu in particular was fuming. Like Jellal before him, he stormed off to rescue her. By dressing as her and barging into court claiming to be her.

After they had both been tossed into jail for the knight, Erza explained that it had only been done for show. If he had not interfered, she would have been released already. Instead, they would have to spend the night... But... She had to admit, having someone stand up for her hadn't been entirely unpleasant.

After that, the team split up for a few chapters. When Erza next appeared it was to hunt down her fellow guild members. Natsu, Happy, Lucy – and somewhat less willingly Gray – had taken on an S class mission, going against the strict rules of the guild. Such powerful jobs are reserved for the strongest of the guild members, who have proven themselves capable of taking on the toughest missions. Erza, of course, had been an S class mage since she was sixteen. The others had yet to graduate.

Their job was to rescue the people of Galuna Island, who had mysteriously begun turning into demons at night. In attempting to achieve that goal, they had picked a fight with several powerful mages – Toby, Sherry, Suzuki and Leon, the last being an old friend and rival of Gray. The four members were well and truly over their heads, trying to stop these mages from awakening another of Zeref's demons, Deliora – a demon that Gray and Leon's teacher had sacrificed her life to seal. On top of that, they had to try and protect the village from retribution for hiring mages.

Erza arrived on the island in time to rescue Lucy from Erza's attacks. That was not what the woman came for, however. She didn't chase them down in order to help them with this dangerous mission. She came to drag them back to Fairy Tail and punish them for breaking the rules of the guild. The rules that Erza devoted herself to.

She tied up Erza and Happy. She told Gray, when he finally came upon them, that she didn't care about the towns people's predicament. Another guild could help them. They were going back to Fairy Tail to be punished, plain and simple – but for the second time in their history, it came down to Gray to yell at Erza. He told her that she could slice him down if he wanted, but otherwise he was not going home.

The shock of it seemed to soften her heart a bit, and perhaps remind her of her own ideals. She told them that they would still be punished, but after the mission was completed. For the time being she committed to helping them take down the enemy mages. Something they more or less succeeded at, though not quite in time. Deliora awoke before they could stop it.

With only a single roar, Deliora died. Trapped inside the ice, its life had been stolen away bit by bit by Gray's teacher Ur. She still lived in the ice that sealed the creature, and later in the melted waters that drained into the ocean. Deliora was no more.

As for the mages, Erza chose to let them be free. For all that they had tried to wipe out the village, ultimately she felt that they too were pursuing their own justice. Deloria had destroyed all of their homes. Rather than it being sealed, they had simply wanted to see it killed. Since the mission hadn't been to capture them, Erza was content that they simply repent.

As for the villagers, it was Erza who pointed out their issue hadn't in fact been resolved. Those dangerous mages only indirectly caused the problems. In fact, if you want to be technical – considering Deliora was already dead – fighting them wasn't even necessary for the mission. The solution was what the mayor had urged them to do all along: destroy the moon.

Or at least the “evil lens” that made the island’s moon look purple. Using one of her strongest armors, combined with Natsu's explosive powers, Erza launched a spear high into the sky to shatter apart the layer of magic created by the moondrip. A layer that was not in fact turning humans, but rather convincing demons that they were humans. Thankfully for the team, the demons rejoiced at the realization, and parties rather than fights were had.

For a reward, they took the golden key for Lucy, who could use it to summon Celestial Spirits, being a Celestial Mage. Erza rejected the money, however, since their guild had not officially accepted the request and no one but her was even equipped to take it according to the rules of her guild. She also promised the guild members punishment from the guild master, saying that Makarov would not go easy on them.

That might have normally been true, but they came home to something rather different than they were expecting. The guild had been attacked, trashed in fact, with everyone trying to pretend it didn't bother them. Their punishment consisted of a quick head chop to Natsu and Gray, with a slap on the rear for Lucy. Makarov was determined that everyone keep things happy and cheerful, rather than losing their temper and allowing a war with the attacking guild to begin. Phantom Lord was second only to Fairy Tail in power, after all – and the magic council outlawed guilds fighting among each other.

Phantom Lord wanted a fight, though. Their strongest member, Gajeel, not only took out the guild but actually nailed three members of Fairy Tail to a tree. That was something that no one could forgive, and Fairy Tail began a retaliation against the main forces.

Unfortunately, a war wasn’t Phantom Lord's only goal. Their target was Lucy, who's exceptionally wealthy father had paid them to retrieve her, the better to marry her off. Lucy was easily captured, having stayed back at the guild to take care of the injured Fairy Tail members, while Erza and the others fought against the less powerful members of Phantom Hive that were left in the other guild hall. It was going fairly well, too, until a sneak attack robbed Master Makarov of his magical power, leaving him unconscious and close to death's door.

It was Erza who announced the retreat as a result. She gathered up her guild members and led them back home, carrying the Master. A complete disgrace. One Erza blamed herself for, for all that she had no way of knowing.

Erza made it up to the guild in spades, regardless, when Phantom Lord again took the fight to them. It had turned its headquarters mobile, and – powered by four of the guilds strongest members – prepared to launch a spell that could blast away the entire guild hall, not to mention its members. In response to that attack, Erza equipped her Adamantine Armor, the strongest defensive armor of her collection, and single handedly intercepted the blast. Unfortunately, even Erza isn't invincible – she fell unconscious afterward.

Most of the battle continued without her as a result. Three of the elemental four were taken down, but Erza awoke in time to take down Aria, despite him attacking at his full power. Still, despite her handy defeat of him, taking on the Jupitor canon had still weakened Erza quite a bit and she was of limited use in the fights following.

She had less success with the Master of Phantom Lord, Jose, but did verbally defend their guild member Lucy. She berated him for his attack, as well as for underestimating Natsu. She was also ultimately saved from him by the recovered guild Master. She led her fellow members away from the fight, to allow Makarov to finish things.

With the threat of Phantom Hive ended, and the interrogations by the council that followed deat with, it fell to the guild masters to rebuild the guild, bigger and better than ever before. Carrying massive amounts of wood, shouting orders to everyone, Erza participated with the rest. Until she and the other members of the Strongest Team noticed that someone was missing. Namely, Lucy. Upon searching the blonde mage's house, they found that Lucy had left a note. She had gone home.

The rest of the arc mostly focused on Lucy, going home to make sure her father would never attack Fairy Tail again. Erza's main contribution was to act shocked with the other team members at just how much land was owned by Lucy's family.

After that, Erza officially asked Natsu and the others to join her, forming the Strongest Team for real. Since they had been put together so many times in any case, she thought they should simply make it official.

The following Loke Arc had very little of Erza in it, except at the start – The team took on a mission to help out a theater, and ended up having to perform the play. Which they did. Terribly. Even though Erza loves acting, and loves the theater, she had terrible stage fright. She stuttered over lines, ultimately forgot them, improvised, and at one point got too in character and slashed up Lucy's clothing on stage.

Despite the terrible show, Erza definitely enjoyed herself, and the crowd apparently loved it. They performed many more such terrible performances off screen, apparently.

The rest of the arc focused primarily on Lucy and Loke, with Lucy trying to save the life of the guild memberr Loke. Loke, who was truthfully a celestial spirit.

That Arc led to a very influential one for Erza, though. Namely, The Tower of Heaven, which was another name for the R System. Erza and co had been invited by Loke to a fancy casino, where they could go to relax and have fun. Even Erza had reequipped into fanciful clothes, instead of armor, though she admitted to herself that she couldn't relax in them.

It was while relaxing in the casino that Erza was attacked by her old friends from childhood. Sho, Millianna, Wally and Simon. They trapped the other guests in playing casts, tie Erza up in magic resistant ropes, and knocked everyone else unconscious. Dragging her back to the boat, they revealed that Erza was to be brought back to the Tower of Heaven and Jellal – who had, of course, spent the last eight years convincing them Erza had gone mad with power and betrayed them.

Erza was locked in a tower, her hands cuffed. Sho told her that she would be kept there until the “ceremony,” at which point she would be sacrificed in return for “paradise,” aka the resurrection of Zeref. Erza begged him not to go through with it, knowing the pain and suffering that Zeref – the creators of Lullaby and Deliora – would bring upon the world. He was convinced that the release would bring about the dreams of him and his companions, however, and as such Erza was unable to convince him. Instead, she used her feet to knock him out and then freed herself.


Going after Jellal, Erza was surprised to instead find Natsu and the gang, including the former member of Phantom Lord Juvia. She ordered the gang to all go back home, which they refuse to do – for Natsu's part, he was trying to rescue Happy, who was given to Millianna.

Natsu rushed off to find him, while the others refused to leave Erza's side no matter what she said. They wanted to help, and they also wanted to know what was going on. Trembling, and almost in tears, Erza at last explained to them her past. From the time she was captured until the time she was betrayed. She also gave them a warning, however, that whether she won or lost she would “disappear from this world.”

After everything was explained, Sho arrived. He had apparently heard everything, and demanded to know what she meant. He did not want to believe that Jellal was the true traitor, that the man he had devoted eight years of his life to had been the true enemy all along.

Simon appeared as well, however, and backed up Erza's story. He had loved Erza ever since they were children, and never truly believed the lies Jellal told. He had only been awaiting his chance, which had finally come.

Though they all decided to work together, there were more problems afoot. Three assassins haad been released to stop Fairy Tail. They had to be defeated before Jellal, and on top of that there was a count down – the council was deciding on whether to unleash Etherion, a magical canon powerful enough to blast away a continent.

Hearing this, Sho locked Erza inside of one of his cards. His goal was to protect her, to keep her from harm sealed inside one of his separate dimensions. He didn't realize Erza's full strength, and that his actions had only left her more vulnerable, especially when they came across Ikaruga.

This assassin, a swordswoman, easily incapacitated Sho. What's more, her sword swings were capable of cutting through even the barriers of dimensions, traveling into the card, where Erza was forced to block them. The redheaded knight in fact uses the turbulence created by those sword strikes to escape the card, freeing herself to do battle with the assassin.


Ikaruga easily broke every armor Erza changed into. Until at last Erza decided to forgo armor. Bandages around her chest, cloth pants with flames around the feet – stylish, but useless for defense. Erzza explained to Sho that she has spent the last eight shielding her heart with armor, hiding from true contact with the world. But giving up that defense and putting all of her heart and power into the blade, she was finally able to defeat the assassin and progress toward Jellal.

She found Jellal and struck at him, disarming him and putting him at her mercy. She told him that his mission had failed straight from the start, because the R system could not truly be completed without an enormous amount of power, more than all the mages of the continent could muster. He said she was right, and that he had been possessed by the spirit of Zeref. He claimed that he had just been a puppet. He asked Erza to end him, and she refused. She hugged him instead, giving herself over to death as Etherion came down upon the tower.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. The stone facade of the tower fell away, revealing the true nature of the structure. It was built of Lacrima, a crystal capable of absorbing magic. Etherion was the power source required to complete the R system.

Even as he explained, Jellal conjures back a thought projection, a double of himself that he had planted in the council; Siegrain. Recombining with it increased his power to its full extent. Simultaneously he activated a binding spell that he had placed on Erza during their hug, incapacitating her. He attempted to merge her with the Lacrima, intending to use her body as the sacrificial vessel for Zeref.

Natsu arrived in time to pull her out, and began trying to damage the towers lacrima so that the spell could not be cast. Jellal rained attacks down on him, further destroying the tower in the process, which unleashed more of Jellals anger. He prepared to bring a spell down to destroy Natsu, which Erza prepared to intercept. She hoped he wouldn't kill her precious sacrifice, but he declared it no longer mattered, after all the damage to the tower. He prepared to unleash it anyway, and she still stood strong with the intention of protecting her friend. Even if it killed her. Simon took the blow for both of them, however, and died in her place.

Still needing to defeat Jellal, Natsu began to eat the lacrima that had absorbed Etherion's power, taking on its magic and powering up enough to defeat Jellal. A wonderful battle, true, but it left quite a lot of unstable lacrima behind. The majority of Etherion's power was still in the rock, threatening to burst forward end kill everyone, even her friends who had left the tower.

Erza again tried to sacrifice her life, as a result. Claiming that she would have no regrets if she died saving her friends, she merged her body with the lacrima to control the blast. With her guidance, it shot straight toward the sky instead of enveloping everyone.

Erza, meanwhile, woke up floating, in a dress. She had a vision of her own grave, with everyone crying. Her friends were in tears. Natsu was screaming that she could not possibly be dead. The council had given her an eternal spot among the ten wizard saints, but it was no comfort to the people who loved her. Watching their tears, Erza screamed that this wasn't what she wanted. She cried. She yelled. She faded away.

She woke up in Natsu's arms. He had gone into the Etherion to draw her out, had saved her life. He told her to never do anything like that ever again, and she agreed. This was when she finally recognized the importance of living for ones friends instead of dying for them.This was also the first time in eight years that she was able to cry out of both eyes, in this case tears of joy.


As for her friends – the fate of Jellal was uncertain, but he was assumed dead. Erza confided to Lucy alone that she thought he had regiained his old self right at the end and helped to redirect the blast, allowing her to live. Sho and the other surviving members, meanwhile, set off on their own adventure. They did not want to be a burden to Erza.

Erza declared they would never be a burden, but accepted their decision to leave and live their own lives. She recited the rules given to all members leaving Fairy Tail, even though they had never actually joined the guild. One, to never reveal any sensitive information to an outsider. Two, to never use the clients met through the guild for personal gain.... and three, to always live their lives with all their strength, never considering their own lives to be meaningless. With that, they left, free at last.

The next arc was the Battle of Fairy Tail. The Guild had been rebuilt, Juvia had joined – and so had Gajeel, to the irritation and distrust of Erza. A reporter came and interviews some of the members. A beauty contest was held, with a festival around the corner - “Miss Fairy Tail.” Erza competed, reequipping during the contest to try and claim victory.

That was when the battle kicked off. Laxus, one of Fairy Tail's members, declared there would be a battle to see who was the strongest. He had one of his underlings, Evergreen, turn all the Fairy Tail women to stone. Evergreen threatened to use her magic to remotely turn them all into dust if they don't co-operate.

That of course puts Erza out of commission again, for quite a while. Eventually, however, Natsu tried to use his flame to restore her, and only succeeded in cracking her statue. Thankfully, Evergreen's magic was of the occular variety – a gorgon type spell, where looking into the casters eye is what turns you to stone. Since Erza's right eye is magical and immune, the spells affect was halved, and Erza was able to burst free from her stone shell.

While searching for Laxus, she came instead against Evergreen. By closing her left eye, she was able to fight against the woman on even terms, eventually pinning the woman. Evergreen threatened to destroy their fellow mages if Erza did not strip naked and embarrass herself right then and there. Erza out bluffed her, by conjuring multiple swords and saying that she would honor their memories by killing Evergreen on the spot. Evergreen chose to return the female mages to normal.

She also gave Erza Laxus's location, though it turned out to be fake. It lead only to the men's bath house.

Laxus, meanwhile, needed a new hostage. He created Thunder Hall, unleashing thunder lacrima into the sky. They would strikee the townspeople if he was not stopped – and while they could be broken, they would unleash a bolt of lightning on whoever took one down.

Erza did eventually find Laxus, fighting against one of the stronger guild members, Mystogun. During the fight, the cloth Mystogun always hid his face behind was unraveled, revealing a face identical to Jellal. Mystogun claimed not to be Jellal, however, telling the emotional Erza that he did know who she was. He left, leaving her confused.

Erza for her part chose to leave the fight against Laxus to Natsu. Waring the thunder empress armor – which offered some immunity to lightning – she went to take on all the lacrima. However, a telepath among the guild saved her from that fate, by getting the others to combine their strength and help her. As a result, Erza only had to take on about two hundred simultaneous lightning strikes. The effects left her more or less out of commission while the others fought Laxus.

After the fight, Laxus is exiled from the guild, and his underlings more or less brought back. Though Laxus had gone more than a little insane, it was generally understood by the guild members that he wasn't truly evil – that in his deepest heart, he hadn't considered them an enemy, and that in truth he had held back.

Erza participated normally in the Harvest Festival float, showing off her sword magic. She had in fact won the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant, so she was prominently displayed. With the rest of the guild, she gave a sign created by Makarov, indicating that they would always watch over Laxus.

Things continued normally from there in the Oracion Seis arc. Erza tries to learn about Mystogun without effect. Lucy went off to take down an enemy guild, to save her then destitute father. She succeeded, impressing Erza, but Erza herself didn't have anything to do with it.

Eventually they came across the next big event. An allegiance had been made among several guilds – Fairy Tail, Cait Shelter, Blue Pegasus and Llamia scale – to take down Oracion Seis, one of the largest dark guilds in the kingdom. Among their own alliance members were none other than Lyon and Sherry, as well as future Fiary Tail members Wendy and Carla. Not to mention Ichiya, who is worth mentioning just for the fact that his extreme personality disturbs Erza every time she sees him.

The combined group confronted the six mages of Oracion Seis, with Erza taking on poison dragon slayer Cobra. Unfortunately, her arm was bitten by his poisonous snake, Cubellios. The strong poison weakened her, and the group was nearly wiped out. They were saved primarily by Brain noticing Wendy, who's healing magic they needed. They prioritized kidnapping her over destroying the group, and the weakened mages were left more or less intact.

Determined to go after them, Erza used Lucy's belt to bind up her arm. She asked the other mages to cut it off for her. Lyon accepted while the others protested. Carla interrupted, telling them that Wendy's healing magic could save Erza from the poison.

Erza was forced to stay behind along with Lucy and Blue Pegasus's Hibiki while the others attempted to rescue Wendy. They eventually succeeded, returning in order to heal Erza's poison, but accidentally let slip a crucial fact – that Jellal was back.

A black column of light appeared, revealing the unsealing of Nirvana, a powerful and ancient magic that Oracion Seis wanted for themselves. It was a magic capable of turning good evil and evil good. It was also about this point that the enemy mage Hoteyes Richard was changed by the releasing Nirvana magic from an enemy to an ally. In fact, anyone with strong positive or negative emotions, or who's motivations were ambiguous was at risk of changing. Hoteyes had become obsessed with darkness and turned to money because he wanted to find his brother who he loved, and as such was a prime target. This wouldn't affect Erza directly until later, however.

While the others were distracted by the light, Erza slipped away to try and find Jellal. Uncertain what to expect, not knowing what to expect. Memories of him as a child flashed through her head, but mixed with the fact that she'd been forced to fight him, and the hope that he might have reverted. She wasn't even sure how to face him, one way or the other, but she still sought him out.

To her shock and anger, he had lost his memories. He could not remember anything but her name. He couldn't remember the things he had done or the people he had killed, which brought her rage at him to the fore, so that she grabbed him by the shirt. She started to scream at him to remember those he had killed. Jellal only broke into tears however, wondering what sort of person he could have been.

It was at that point which Cobra appeared again, hoping to take control of Nirvana's magic – but too late. Jellal revealed that he had cast a self-destruct upon Nirvana. He also put one on himself, to atone and to “free” Erza from all the pain and trouble he had caused.

Erza grabbed him by the collar, demanding that he reverse the spell on himself and live. She said that he had committed crimes and needed to pay for them. That he could not be forgiven just for dying. That he needed to face life and live. Jellal called her kind, but did not remove the spell.

It was at that point that Brain, the leader of Oracion Seis appeared. He easily canceled the self destruction magic on Nirvana, taking control of Nirvana's magic and bringing it up into the sky. It arrived with it Erza, clinging to Jellal's form.

She told him to look upon her guild mates, still struggling toward victory despite the setback. She told him that they were connected through the hope, and that Jellal too should see the future with his “own eyes.” Inspired by her words, Jellal decided to continue fighting along side them.

The battles continued from there, Fairy Tail taking on what members of Oracion Seis were left. With most of the guild members narrowly having avoided an explosion, Erza and Jellal were put face to face against the magic user Midnight. His power of refraction allowed him to distort any object, using armor to strangle people sending attacks flying back and even creating illusions. He easily took down the weakened Jellal, and turned Erza's armors and weapons against her.

Ultimately, however, it was Erza's intelligence that defeated Midnight – she was able to pinpoint three weaknesses during the fight. First, he was unable to manipulate a human being, meaning that if she struck with her first he had no defense. Second, he was could only reflect one area at a time, meaning he could block or attack but not both so long as she maintains a distant. Third, she had an elastic armor that allowed her to continue moving easily no matter how much he twisted it up.

Midnight responded by turning into a dark beast, claiming that he grew far more powerful at midnight. He released a giant blast of energy, and apparently stabbed through both Erza and Jellal – yet he was the one who fell to Erza's strike. She revealed that the entire thing was just an illusion, which was of course useless against her magical right eye. A fourth weakness.

After the battle, Hibiki used telepathy to connect the various members of the alliance, as well as Brain, who has now turned into his more destructive alter ego Zero. Hibiki revealed that there were six crystals that controlled the movements of Nirvana and that all needed to be destroyed at the same time. Erza took the fifth crystal for herself, and stopped Jellal from speaking out loud to claim the sixth crystal, fearful Natsu would hear him and react violently to the former enemy.

In actuality, Jellal supported Natsu by providing him a golden flame of immense magical power, which he consumed to draw on the same magic power he used to fight Jellal. With that help, Natsu defeated Brain and all six crystals were simultaneously destroyed.

With the battle completed and the goals accomplished, Erza promised to take care of Jellal. She told him that even if he should regain his memories, she would be there for him. Yet that wsa the moment when the magic council's soldiers arrive to arrest Jellal and Hoteyes.

Hoteyes was willing to accept his punishment, only sad that he could not seek out his little brother. His little brother who turned out to be none other than Wally. Jellal's situation was more complicated, though.

Forced to watch Jellal be led out of her life forever, potentially back to the world of darkness, Erza fought with herself, trying to make herself react and attack even if it was the council. Natsu beat her to it,, striking out and screaming that they wouldn't let the council take Jellal away. The other mages lept to Jellal's defense, fighting against the council and screaming that he was on their side. Natsu in particular screamed that Jellal had to stay for Erza's sake, by her side.

The head of the troops yelled for them all to be arrested, at which point Erza herself put a stop to it. She demanded her fellow mages calm themselves, and allowed Jellal to be taken away. As much as she loved him, she was unwilling to let her guild members become outlaws even for his sake.

As Jellal was led away, he smiled. He finally remembering that he had been the one to give Erza her last name, in honor of her hair. He said farewell and allowed himself to be taken away. As she had when she was a child, Erza went off alone to cry.


After that, they return to Wendy's Guild, Cait Shelter. They discovered at that point that the entire guild was in fact an illusion, created by the creator of Nirvana who had stayed behind all those centuries to watch over his failed creation. He disappeared along with the guild and all its illusionary members, leaving only Wendy and Carla behind. Both joined Fairy Tail afterward.


Things pass more or less normally as the guild members return home, for the Edolas Arc. The guilds strongest member, Gildarts, returned home. He had failed at a quest due to the sudden appearance of a black dragon. There was nevertheless rejoicing at his return, though the quest would have to be shifted onto another guild. Erza somewhat unnecessarily told Lucy not to try and take it, as it was far too soon for her.

Unfortunately, before they could fully settle down, the mystery of Mystogun's past caught up with the characters. As they were to discover, he was actually from the alternate reality world Edolas, where magic was a finite resource limited entirely to the crystals of Lacrima. Since it was infinitely plentiful in Earthland, where the main characters lived, and located even inside each person, Edolas had been attempting to suck up the worlds magic. Mystogun, originally that world's Jellal, originally its prince, had been going around closing up the “anima” portals to stop the kingdom from having its way.

Because of that, Edolas had unleashed an anima too big to be closed. One large enough to suck up all of the town and the guild, transforming all of the members into the magical Lacrima. The only ones left unscathed were the dragon slayers, who's magic made them immune, those originally from Edolas, and Lucy, who had been protected by one of her celestial spirits. As it turned out Lucy and Carla, though they had been hatched in eggs in Earthland, were actually Exceed originally from Edolas. As a result, they had been left untouched and were able to take the dragon slayers up into the sky and through the portal.

Erza spent a good portion of the arc trapped as Lacrima as a result of the anima. She and Gray were later freed by Gajeel, however, whose dragon slaying magic was able to undo the transformation.

Once freed, Erza of course joined her fellow guild mates, in time to save Happy from her own Edolas counterpart: Erza Knightwalker. The two Erza's did battle, with Scarlet using her requip magic while Knightwalker used a spear known as the ten commandmants, capable of changing forms and magic. Scarlet succesfully defeated her counterpart, and took on the guise of the other Erza. She took her fellow guild members as captives as part of a plan.

Her plan was to take the king hostage, and have the guards change the coordinates of the Dragon Chain Canon, a creation powered by stolen dragon slaying magic. The intended to use it as a chain, swinging the lacrima down upon their enemies, the exceed. They claimed this would also turn the exceed into Lacrima, creating an ultimate source of magic. The canon could also be fired directly at the lacrima, however, the dragon slayer magic within free their friends.

The plan went wrong when Knightwalker appeared again and freed the king. The chain was fired according to the kingdom's plan again, but a girl named Coco appeared with a flying “legion” beast to rescue them. They fly into the sky, and lent their strength to the excee, in order to stop the island from crashing. They stalled it long enough for Mystogun to return the people back to Earthland, restoring the town to normal.

Unfortunately, Knightwalker appeared once more, threatening to kill everyone. On top of that, the king himself unleashed an anti-magical dragon like contraption, which Natsu said the dragon slayers will take down.

Erza and her team were meanwhile ambushed by Knightwalker again, on her legion, with Lucy and the others falling down. Erza caught hold of another legion, and managed to take the fight to her counterpart. The two landed on a flying island for their fight. They declared that the world didn't need two Erzas, and that one of them woiuld have to die for hurting what the other cherished.

The fight between the two dragged on, the two equally matched. Eventually, Knightwalker drew out her strongest form and Scarlet her strongest armor. The two clashed, and both weapon and armor were destroyed, along with the floating island beneath them. It began to crash toward the earth below. Still, the two continued to fight hand to hand, all the while arguing over whether Kngihtwalker's actions were right.

Finally, Scarlet managed to get through to her counterpart. She argued that even though the two of them had run out of magic some time ago, they were still alive. Running out of magic did not kill people. They could adapt, keep growing and getting stronger. Magic was not worth the sacrifice of countless lives, she said.

Scarlet declared that Knightwalker had the same fears and darkness and weakness that she did, and therefore the same heart and compassion as well. She declared that knightwalker was not alone, and with that the two crashed to earth, both unable to move. Though knighwalker gave the victory to Scarlet, Scarlet said that there was no such thing as victory in this case, as they were both the same person in the end.

Meanwhile, Mystogun and the other guild members continued with their fights. Mystogun reversed the flow of the anima to send all magic into Earthland. This included all people with magic inside them, such as the exceed. Natsu and the other members of Fairy Tail willingly took blame for all that had occurred, before disappearing, so that Edolas could begin the healing process with Mystogun in place as its king.. The two Erza's said goodbye to each other as Scarlet disappeared into the sky.

Among those returned home was Lisana, a girl assumed to be dead the last two years. In reality, she had been trapped in Edolas all along. She had been returned home with the rest of them.
That launched them into the Tenrou Island Arc. The more powerful mages among Fairy Tail had been selected to take a test. They would partner up with other guild members, and the winner would become an S class mage. One of those chosen was Mest, supposedly a disciple of Mystogun. Gajeel was not chosen, due to Erza not thinking he was ready, but he did partner up with the chosen mage Levy.

Erza herself participated, not as a test taker abut as an obstacle. Each group of mages had to choose a a path, and on path D was Erza Scarlet. Despite their best efforts, Juvia and Lisanna were easily trounced by the redheaded knight.

Later, while relaxing with Juvia, Lisanana and Mirajane, Erza wondered where Wendy and Mest have gotten off to, since they had lost their own battle with Gray and Loke. She and Juvia went searching for their missing companions, but instead came across the injured Levy. Together with her, they found Gajeel, who had managed with some difficulty to defeat two members of Grimoire Heart, another dark guild. Among the members that were descending were the seven kin of purgatory, the most powerful members of the guild.

Erza declared the contest to be on hold, and sent a flare up to warn the other members. Meanwhile, she questioned the enemy mage Yomazu and discovered that Grimoire Heart was in fact trying to awaken Zeref, who was not in fact dead but rather “slumbering” on the island. Physically awake but with his true powers locked.

The foot soldiers were of course no match for Erza and Juvia, but they were soon faced by one of the seven kin, Meredy. Despite the mage's young age, Erza warned against underestimating Meredy, sensing a strange magic. A magic that was actually able to give pain even to Juvia,who could turn her er body into water.

Once Juvia found out that Meredy's primary target was Gray, however, her power multiplied massively, her attitude scaring even Erza a little. Where originally Erza was the one to battle Meredy, Juvia quickly took over the fight. Like all members of Fairy Tail, her true power showed once she was protecting someone she loved. At Juvia's request, Erza left the fight to her guild mate, hurrying to find Wendy and Gray.

While searching for Wendy, she instead came across Azuma, one of the seven kin with the power to manipulate earth magic and create explosions. Claiming to have “taken care of” Wendy, he drew her into a fight. He said that she was a lot like him, wanting to attack powerful people. She disagreed, saying that power did not concern her, so long as she had enough to protect those important to her.

Hearing that,Azuma acted upon orders he'd been given by his Master, Hades. He uprooted the sacred Tenrou Tree, which had been protecting the lives and boosting the power of Fairy Tail Mages. With the magic of Tenrou Island under his control, Azuma was able to drain the power of all Fairy Tail mages, making it harder and harder for them to move.

He excluded Erza from this, however, wanting to fight her when she was serious. He promised that if she could defeat him, he would restore everyone's power to them.

Wanting to strike him down and protect her guild mates, Erza attacked. Asuma, however, completely controlled the trees and earth around them. Her attacks were blocked, while he could easily strike. She decided that the only way to reach victory was to put all her power into a blade and forget completely about defense. It didn't work. Azuma was easily able to capture her, turning the power of Tenrou Island against her in a massive explosion that almost knocked her unconscious.

Dazed and confused, Erza seemed to somehow sense Jellal, who had in turn somehow sensed her defeat and whispered encouragement. Shaking that off as a mere fancy, Erza nevertheless stood. She refused to back down for her friends, and again fiercely attacked, for a little bit pushing toward victory.

Azuma ensnared her again, however, and once more unleashed Tenrou's magic on her. This time, though, there was a crucial difference. Within the magic, she found the images and voices of her guild members, encouraging her. She remembered the truth, that it wasn't she who protected the guild but they who protected her. They gave her a reason to fight and a reason to live, a place to call home, and a home in their hearts. The magic that was supposed to be completely under Azuma's control turned, instead protecting Erza as she launched her counterattack and slashed Azuma down.

Defeated, Azuma promised to restore everyone's magic power to them, though they had loss the power up and divine protection of the tree all the same. For himself, he was suffering the cost of drawing on too much of his magic, and returning to the earth himself as a tree.

Even as he turned, Erza asked if he knew Jellal. Azuma admitted that he did know of him, a man who became obsessed with Zeref's ghost, and that it was somehow Ultear's doing, her trying to distract the council with a plan years in the making.

Erza asked why they were after Zeref. He told her it was to get closer to the source of all magic. She wanted to know more, what they would do with it, but he turned fully into a tree before he could answer.

Erza joined with the others to launch an attack on Hades. Wendy was nearly killed in the early battle, and despite their best efforts they could not lay a scratch on the dark wizard. He mocked the “current” Fairy Tail, informing them that he was in fact the Second Master.

Laxus came to the island, lending Natsu his magic power in order to defend Fairy Tail. Armed with Fire Lightning Dragon Slayer magic, Natsu was able to carry on the fight better, but still could not put a scratch on the powerful magic user. Admiring their attempt, he removed his eye patch and released an even more potent magic, gaining force..

Though out of magic power, the remaining Fairy Tail members nevertheless teamed up to launch Natsu at him one final time with all their might. At the same time, the exceed Happy, Carla and, at this point, Lily managed to take down the power source of the ship, which was actually Hades's heart. Further, a reformed Ultear restored the Tenrou Island tree to normal, powering up everyone. As a result, they finally took Hades down.

The remaining Fairy Tail members showed up to help clear away what's left of Grimioire Heart. The guild was finally able to rest, though it was unfortunately cut short by the sudden appearance of a black dragon. Acnologia, the very same creature that had defeated Gildarts.

The guild members are ordered to escape as Makarov's “Final order,” a command that Erza at first upholds. Like the rest, she came back, though. They tried to beat it but couldn't. They chose instead to hold each other's hands as they were blasted away by the dragon's roar.

They, and all of Tenrou Island, disappeared. For seven years there was no sign of them. The guild went on without them, though the manga skipped ahead. Everyone had grown up, and changed. The guild had fallen from the most powerful in Fiore to the weakest, its members laughing stocks now that the core members had disappeared. The guild owed a large amount of money to another, Twilight Ogre, and was being treated like trash as a result.

Until the guild reappeared after seven years, in a beam of light. The first Master, Mavis, revealed that it had been she who saved them all. Mavis then disappeared herself. Erza and the rest return home, shocked at the state of the guild, and their friends.

Still, they rejoiced to be united, at least for a while. Yet eventually the realities of being gone seven years began to catch up. Lucy's father was dead. Erza found out that Jellal had escaped prison. The world had gone on for seven bitter years, and they were the only ones unchanged.

Being unchanged, however, she Mirajane and Makarov had no trouble at all wiping the floor with the rude members of Twilight Ogre, and “paying them back” all that the guild owed for their treatment.

This remarkably short arc led into the Grand Magic Tournament. During the seven years they were away, the kingdom had started up this tournament, apparently to decide the strongest Guild. Fairy Tail had always come in last place, but with a large cash prize on the line they decided to try again.

Unfortunately, in the seven years the team had been absent everyone had powered up, leaving most of the group in the dust. The group planned to spend the three months before the tournament on intensive training, to make up for the seven years absence. They went to the beach to pursue that goal, but were distracted on the second day by one of Lucy's Stellar Spirits, Virgo. The maiden claimed that there was trouble in the celestial spirit world, and brought the group home to fight it.

In reality, this was not the start of another adventure, but simply a surprise party to welcome Lucy back. They partied through the night, celebrating their reunion, eating and drinking and dancing. Unfortunately, that one night turned out to be the equivalent of almost three months in the human world, eating up all the time they intended to use training.

This caused serious issues for the group, until they were contacted by Jellal Ultear and Meredy. The three of them had formed a guild known as Crime Sorcière, devoted to taking down dark guilds. In their journeys they had sensed a dark magic presence, reminiscent of Zeref's magics, at the Grand Magic Games. They wanted Fairy Tail to search for it, and in return Ultear promised to use Second Origin. This magic spell would essentially open up a second magical “container” within the group, allowing them to potentially double their magic supply. The group accepted, allowing them to close the gap.

Erza also took the opportunity to speak with Jellal privately. She confirmed that his memories had all returned, and he offered to let her kill him for Simon's sake. Despite her protests that Simon wouldn't have wanted that, and that he was atoning in his own way, Jellal wondered if it wouldn't be better if he died. He wasn't as strong as her, he said, which prompted her to slap him. In the one sided fight, they accidentally tripped and fell, Jellal ending up on top of Erza. The two almost kissed, before the blue haired mage pushed away with a claim of having a fiance.

Erza accepted it at the time, until Jellal and company departed. With a small smile, she remarked on him being a clumsy liar, but accepted that this was an answer in and of itself.

They arrived at the capitol of Fiore, Crocus, without further incident. They found it slightly suspicious that they had to be in their assigned rooms by the start of the preliminaries, but Erza could find nothing wrong with the rooms. Unfortunately, when the preliminaries did start, Wendy was no where in sight. Elfman had to take her place as they launched into the Sky Labyrinth, a complicated maze, and only the first eight to get through would be able to participate in the tournament.

By taking the maps of other teams, Erza's team successfully made it through the maze, but barely made eighth place. Among the others who made it through was Raven Tail, led by Master Makarov's estranged son – the guild that had hurt Wendy and Carla, it turned out, keeping them from participating. There was also a second Fairy Tail team that had made it through, which included Jellal disguised as his own double Mystogun.

The battles commenced from there, with some difficulty for Fairy Tail. Erza watched, cheering her team from the background. She also met with Jellal beneath a bridge at the end of the second day, where he admitted that the strange energy had disappeared this year. He intended to investigate those who had organized the contest, while Erza warned him to be careful.

Going back to her guild's rooms, she was approached by none other than Millianna, now a member of the all female guild Mermaid Heel. They discuss Sho and Wally who were still traveling, as well as Milianna's new guild. Erza's friend told her of their strongest member, Kagura, who's sword Archenemy would only be unleashed in order to kill Jellal himself. Millianna declared her own hatred as well, assuming Erza felt the same way, but Erza could only look away. The man had kept her friends slaves for eight years, after all.

It is on the third day that Erza finally participates in an event known as “Pandemonium.” Each contestant would pick a number, determining their order. They would pick a number of monsters to strike, keeping in mind that the monster's levels varied from relatively harmless to so difficult even one of Ten Wizard Saints wouldn't be guaranteed to defeat them. Points would be given depending on how many monsters were defeated, but what monsters were given would be randomly selected and all monsters put out had to be defeated.

When Erza drew first choice, she declared that the battle was effectively ended by luck, as she would take on all one hundred monsters. She defeated them to the shock of the crowd. This forced them to change the format for the rest of the event, giving Cana from Fairy Tail's B team a chance to come in second place.

The battles continue from there, with Fairy Tail racking up more victories. Laxus defeated all of Raven Tail, revealing them to be cheaters in the process and getting them disqualified. Wendy the sky dragon slayer tied with Chelia the sky god slayer. Erza tried her hand at barrel surfing, and was terrible at it.

They also spend some of their free time at a popular relaxation spot, Erza and Lucy sun bathing until the playboys of Blue Pegasus began to bother them. The normal pandemonium resumed from there, everything from accidental gropings by Jellal to Gray freezing the pool and the inevitable accidental destruction when Natsu blasted it with fire. All in all a relaxing, normal, expensive day for Fairy Tail.

On the fourth day, a water battle paired Lucy against the guild Sabertooth's Minerva. The woman actively tortures Lucy until the battle is ended, angering everyone in the guild. Erza stopped Natsu and Gray from fighting, but nevertheless warned Minerva that she had made a bad choice of enemies by angering Fairy Tail. Considering Sabertooth was considered the strongest guild, it was a fated rivalry in any case.

The battles continued, with Erza again a spectator. Fairy Tail did well, Gajeel and Natsu defeating the dragon slayers from Sabertooth, Sting and rogue, despite the dragon lacrima that allowed the latter to power up immensely. Their love of the guild overpowered Sabertooth's focus on pure strength.

The celebratory spirit could not last, however, as the guild stumbled upon the truth of what was going on in the kingdom. The princess intended to use one of Zeref's spells, Eclipse, to travel back in time and kill Zeref before he became immortal. To that end, they had been drawing on the magic of the guilds who came to complete for the last seven years. As the plan required a celestial spirit, Lucy was arrested by an officer of the court who intended to stop it. However, the members of Fairy Tail were told that the king would most likely listen to their request to free Lucy should the mages of Fairy Tail win.

A plan was made. Part of Fairy Tail's forces would go to compete in the tournament as normal, hoping to win. Just in case the kingdom did not keep its word, however, they would send a second force into the castle to rescue Lucy quietly, without making a full out battle against the king.

Mavis, who had come to watch the battles, had also prepared a strategy to help Fairy Tail win. As the battle raged on, they at first stood still, then suddenly launched into action. Erza easily took down her first enemy according to predictions but was then surprised by Kagura, who had not been predicted by Mavis.

Her intended opponent Minerva appeared as well, creating a three way battle for a short while. Minerva's attacks caused moderate damage to them both, before she decided to back out of the fight. She revealed to them that she had captured Millianna earlier, and dodged Kagura's attempts at retaliation by magically redirecting the woman's charge at Erza. Her declaration was that she would fight either Erza or Kagura, whoever won.

Erza denounced this as a shameless stunt, though Minerva claimed she was only being a proper ruler by making others do the fighting. While Erza demanded the release of her friend, Kagura struck and screamed for Erza to stop pretending to care. She knew that Erza had been in contact with Jellal and was furious, striking with all her might.

Erza was forced onto the defense, Kagura's speed stripping her own and her power stronger than Erza had anticipated. Erza demanded to know why Kagura hated Jellal so much, at which point Kagura revealed she was Simon's little sister, and would never forgive Jellal for killing him.

At hearing this, Erza declared that it was her who had killed Jellal, by being weak. She blamed herself for Jellal's death, making Kagura so angry that she finally drew her sword.

Erza blocked the blow that had previously forced her back, She accepted and respected that Kagura was drawing her strength from hatred and anger. She was not willing to brush those feelings away, but she would not fall before them. Dying would be disrespectful to Simon and Rob who had given their lives so that Erza could live.

She pushed Kagura back, now taking the offense. As they fought, rubble began to fall down upon Kagura's head, though, and Erza pushed her away, taking the hit herself. Erza had finally remembered Kagura's face, from all those years ago. Kagura had been the very girl Erza had rescued, at the cost of her own freedom. Crying, Kagura removed the rubble form Erza's body. She wanted to surrender to Erza, but was instead incapacitated by Minerva, who claimed that the victory was Erza's but the prize was hers.

Erza promised Kagura that she would rescue Millianna, but Minerva freed the mage of her own will. The woman had vicious marks upon her back, torture which only angered Erza further. Despite that anger, Kagura easily struck Erza down. As with Kagura, the fight started with Erza at a definite disadvantage, to the point where Minerva didn't think Erza could even get up.

Erza proved her wrong, again and again, eventually surprising Minerva with a sudden attack. Erza at this point revealed that she had not even unleashed her second origin until that point, finally doing so. At the same time, she donned a magic armor so powerful no one had been able to wear it in recent history. Armed with it, she was able to strike Minerva down with slash after slash, declaring the woman had hurt too many people to be forgiven. This gained Fairy Tail five points, as Minerva had been designated the leader.

This left all the remaining members of Fairy Tail, and Sting from Sabertooth. The latter sent up a signal to call the members of the guild, laughing at their injuries and claiming that he could beat them all himself. Looking at their battered forms, however, he hesitated despite his bravado. Despite being in better condition than any of them, he conceded victory, realizing he couldn't defeat them.

When Erza asked why, he revealed that he had been fighting in order to meet with Lester, his Exceed follower. Lester had been captured by Minerva, and only in victory would he be able to see his partner again. However, Sting didn't feel that he would be able to see Lester the way he was.

Erza claimed that he could, though, and Millianna revealed that she had scooped up Lester while within Minerva's magic herself. The two happily reunited, and Fairy Tail won first place. Unfortunately, no one had seen a flare to symbolize Lucy's safety.

Her answer came from an unexpected source, in the end. The guilds were drawn together by none other than the king, who asked that they help defend against what was predicted to be an attack of 10,000 dragons. They planned to use the Eclipse door not as a time portal but as a canon, unleashing the power to strike the dragons as they came. Erza and many other mages ready agree to help, and it was revealed that Lucy herself was with the princess preparing for the attack. Although Cana in particular worried about Erza's wounds, the redheaded mage decided to fight with the rest of her team mates.

It was at soon after that the dragons begin to appear. Surprising everyone, they did not come from over the horizon, but rather from the “Eclipse Canon” that had been intended to stop them. Using it as a canon was impossible, a lie they had been fed. The door instead opened to four hundred years in the past, when the dragons were plentiful. Instead of a thousand, however, only seven made it out before the doors were closed. At their head was a member of Sabertooth, Rogue, who had traveled back from the future for this event and told the princess about the 10,000 dragon attack. It had been his plan to use the gate as a canon.

In fact, this Rogue was from one of two alternate histories already created by Eclipse. In what would have been the original timeline, ten thousand dragons truly had poured out of the doors. To stop that a future Lucy had traveled back in time, stopping the assault. In that timeline, Acnologia had come to rule over the world in there place. By traveling back in time, Rogue intended to create a third future, with himself as the unquestioned ruler, and with a small army of dragons under his command.

The humans fought viciously, of course, but ultimately only another dragon, or a dragon slayer could take them head on. With seven dragons, they required seven dragon slayers – Natsu, Laxus, Wendy, Gajeel, present Sting, present day Rogue, and Cobra from Oracion Seis to make up the difference. Meanwhile, the remaining mages paired off against the dragon-like hatchlings released by Mother-glare.

During the battle, Erza was isolated from the group. Her wounds acting up, she could barely even move. She cursed herself for being unable to show her weakness to the group, thinking that it was the end, but she was saved by the sudden appearance of Jellal. This was witnessed by Millianna, who's anger at Jellal immediately leaped to the surface. She would not accept that Erza had forgiven him, and would not let go of her anger at the one who kept ­her captive. She was only calmed by the appearance of Ultear, who revealed her part in manipulating Jellal from the shadows and took the blame onto herself. As she left, Erza remarked that the girl too had been manipulated and twisted to do the things she had done.

They did not fight her. The battle raged on, with everyone doing their best, and it was actually Ultear who helped save them all. By sacrificing the majority of her remaining time, and aging herself to near death, Ultear was able to turn back the clock by a single minute. That single minute saved the lives of many people, unbeknownst to her, who thought her life was so worthless. That single minute was not remembered by those displaced in time, but the mages defending their home used it to their advantage to turn the tide of battle.

The battle finally ended with Natsu destroying the gate, uprooting the time travelers and sending everyone back to where they belonged.

Afterward, the mages were invited into the castle itself for a celebration of their victory and the successful defense of the capitol. Erza made up with Kagura, who asked Erza to be her sister, and with Millianna who she teased a happy smile out of with liberal applications of cute Exceed. She invited the Celestial mage Yukino to join her guild, causing her to butt heads with the other guilds for a few minutes until Natsu shocked them all into silence by arriving in the king's crown.

When they returned home from the Capitol, they were greeted as heroes. Their guild had been rebuilt as a gift from the people, and the guild once more was the jewel of Magnolia.

With the beginning of the Sun Village arc, requests had begun pouring into Fairy Tail, many of them requesting particular people from the guild. Erza and Wendy put on an act in order to win rare sweets. Natsu and Gray were put on a mission together as well, but broke into a fight which Erza had to forcefully break apart.

Another request came in for Natsu and Gray when they returned to the guild, this one from one of the powerful Ten Wizard Saints, Warrod. This time Erza, Wendy, Happy, Carla and Lucy joined in, to make sure the request would be handled properly.

When they reached Warrod, they were surprised to find that he looked as much as a tree than a human, a result of the powerful nature magic he used. Between jokes, he revealed that his hobby was reforestation, and that in his journeys he had discovered a village that was supposed to contain an eternal flame. Both the villagers and the flame itself had been frozen solid, and Warrod was hoping that the guild members would be able to restore them to their former state.

Accepting the request, Erza and the others were transported by Warrod's magic right to the village itself, which was in fact populated by frozen giants. Neither Natsu's flames nor Gray's ice magic was able to free the villagers from their trap, unfortunately.

On top of that they ran afoul of treasure hunters, who were intending to steal the eternal flame as a rare treasure. They claimed that Fairy Tail's plans to awaken the giants would stand in their way, and showed no remorse about even actively damaging the frozen giants. When it was pointed out that the flame itself was frozen, they revealed that they had manged to obtain the moondrip used to free Deliora, in liquid form. Thinking that it could­ help them free the village, the guild members immediately tried to take it from the treasure hunters, giving chase when their new prey ran.

Erza decided to stay behind, however. She hoped to find a clue to what had caused this disaster in the village itself, and began to explore. Since the giants were all holding weapons, she decided they must have been facing an attack, most likely trying to protect the flame. By going in the opposite direction, she hoped to find a flame, but all she managed to crest was a mountain of ice. That mountain may very well have been the flame in its frozen form, though if so Erza did not recognize it.

Thinking she had failed, Erza realized that it had been pointless to find the flame in any case. Frozen as it was, it would not be able to restore the village no matter its location. As she turned away from her search, however, a new issue became apparent when she caught her reflection in s pike of ice. Her armor falling away from her body, Erza realized that she had been transformed into a child.

Erza quickly realized the trouble she was in from that point. Most of her armor was not built to fit her size, and on top of that she was having trouble moving with the memory of her original form still burned into her mind. On top of that, it took a large amount of magical energy to summon even a single sword which she could barely lift. Her magic had obviously been lowered.

As if it wasn't troublesome enough imagining how Natsu and Gray would take advantage, Minerva chose that moment to appear and challenge Erza to a fight, knowing that the diminutive redhead could not defend herself. She had defected from the now kinder Sabertooth guild, and had joined a dark guild known as Succubus Eye. She intended to get revenge on Erza for her defeat in the games.

Erza wondered if Minerva might be the one responsible, but was told that it was actually Minerva's companion who had reduced everyone's ages. Even as she fought Minerva, Erza wondered what she would need to do to return back to normal, but ultimately was unable to even fight off the mage in front of her. Minerva offered to spare the redheads life if she begged for mercy, but was chided by Erza for giving up her pride and told it wasn't too late to return to the light. As the enraged Minerva tried to launch her final attack, Erza suddenly returned back to her adult age, due to the battle Gray was fighting with the dark mage's companion.

For a while they were then both turned into children, before the caster was finally defeated. For Minerva's part, she fled when the village was restored and the giants came to inspect the disturbance.

Despite the happy ending, many questions were left unanswered. Erza questioned what had frozen the village, but was told that the eternal flame, actually the spirit of a dragon Natsu had befriended during the attacks in the grand magic games, had revealed it to be the work of an ice devil slayer. She wondered if it had been an accident, but since the age-manipulating enemy had warned them about opening the gate of the netherworld, the group came to the conclusion that the whole thing might have been the work of Tartarus, another powerful dark guild.

With their goals more or less accomplished, the guild members returned to Warrod. They collected their reward and enjoyed a bath in the hot springs, one that was accidentally shared with the boys. Warrod himself joined, revealing himself to be one of the founding members of Fairy Tail himself. He shared stories about Mavis, and information on Tartarus with them.

In the Tartarus arc, Erza and the rest returned to the guild, with Erza deciding to let Sting know of Minerva's actions. She also discovered that Tartarus had been moving, and was currently in the progress of killing both current and past members of the Magic Council. Fairy Tail decided to send mages out in protection of those council members, doing their best to prevent the deaths. They discovered that goal of Tartarus was to unleash something called “Face,” which was actually a magical pulse bomb capable of destroying the continent's magic.

As a result, Erza and Mirajane were dispatched to protect the former chairman of the council himself, Crawford. They had tea and a pleasant conversation which soon turned into a battle with henchman of Tartarus.

While the battle was easy for the two girls, It was revealed to be a mere distraction. The tea was drugged, and both easily fell unconscious before the traitor Crawford.

When Erza woke up, she found herself in a cell, magic-binding cuffs holding her suspended. She was not alone, but paired with one of the demons of Zeref, Kyouka. In fact, all the members of the guild were demons of Zeref.

When Erza asked about Crawford and Mirajane, she was informed of the betrayal by Kyouka. As for Mirajane, the woman was to be turned into a demon and put under the control of Tartarus.

As for Erza, Kyouka wanted to know the location of Jellal. Erza was told that Jellal was the last living seal on the magic of Face, and that with his death they would be free to unleash it. The demon used her power to give Erza pain, magnifying the sensation many times over. She promised to free Erza and Mirajane, but Erza kept honestly saying that she did not know. She asked for Mirajane to be freed, but was only tortured in response.

A commotion was stirred up by Natsu and happy coming after Erza, and Kyouka chose to leave Erza under the guard of the tentacled frog demon Yakdoriga. The frog was ordered not to touch Erza, but it was only a temporary reprieve. Kyouka returned to torture her some more, this time using Kakdoriga's electrical ability to shock the woman. Erza again asked for Mirajane to be freed, without response except for more torture and pain.

In the end, the demons did not need Jellal at all, however. They were able to transfer the seal from Jellal to the chairman, who they then killed to unlock face. They tried to take down Fairy Tail as well, but while the guild hall was destroyed the members managed to escape to the flying headquarters of Tartarus and continue the battle.

In the commotion, Kyouka returned again to Erza's cell. She was interrupted on the way by Natsu and Lisanna, followed closely by a freed Erza, with Yakdoriga draped over her shoulders. She had seen fit to return his hospitality, apparently.

Erza wanted to do the same for Kyouka, holding the woman at sword point as she gathered information. She discovered that Jellal was not harmed, and that the demon's ultimate plan was to return to their creator, Zeref, by destroying the magic of this continent and leaving only curses. Kyouka then freed herself from the shackles, declaring that they would not work on a demon's curses, and attempting to attack Erza.

Erza defended against her, questioning whether they blindly followed Zeref's wishes whatever they were. Kyouka said that a human would not understand, but that they were created by Zeref and sought to serve him. Erza responded that humans too knew faith, but that they could think for themselves. She brought out a new suit of armor and a giant lance, her strike driving straight through the cube-shaped headquarters and breaching the defenses of Tartarus for the rest of Fairy Tail. The latter was fortunate, but accidental, as Erza was quite surprised to see them there.

She caught up with her guild members briefly, confirming that only Mirajane still stood unaccounted for. There was little time for chitchat, however, as the guild moved to take advantage of Erza's breach. Kyouka also moved to attack again, and Erza rejoined the battle with her.

The time for Face's supposed detonation came and went, without Erza's magic power dropping. The demon realized that something must have gone wrong, and fled the battle. Erza instead was forced to face off against none other than Minerva, now reborn as “Neo Minerva,” a new demon of Zeref.

In the midst of the fight, a guild member by the name of Warren usd telepathy to tell everyone that Mirajane was safe. Face had theoretically been stopped, and the mission had been in all its crucial points a success. Happy, on the other hand reports, that Tartaros is not done yet. He delivered a message from the ghost of Hades to Makarov, to “release the light.”

Before anyone could react, the Master of Tartarus, Marde Guilde, took over the link. He informed that they would all die, and unleashed the curse Alegria. This caused the cube shaped headquarters to transform into the living monster prison Plutogrim, sucking up the various guild members. Minerva attempted to stop the prioocess, wanting to fight Erza further, but was unsuccessful Erza was sucked inside.

Through some miracle, Lucy managed to escape. As the battle went on, she summoned the Celestial Spirit King, who broke the curse and freed everyone. Upon Erza's release, the excited Minerva immediately resumed the attack where they had left off.

As they fought, Erza questioned Minerva on why she was fighting. She demanded to know what was motivating the woman, causing Minerva to have flashbacks to the terrible training she endured at the hands of her father, all for the goal of growing stronger. Erza screamed that her first was “crying” at the meaninglessness of the fight.

Finally, Minerva collapsed, admitting how useless the fight was. She asked Erza to kill her, saying that she was weak and couldn't go on as she was. Erza refused. Erza said that people would be waiting for her to come home, and that she should not lose sight of that fact.

The two of them were interrupted by Mard Geer, who wanted to take out the “trash.” He chose to start with Minerva, unleashing a curse at in her direction, but it was blocked by none other than Sting and Rogue. They revealed that Erza's letter had drawn them there, but that it was so badly written that it took them a while to show up.

Their intent was to take Minerva back home, but Mard told them that there were a total of three thousand faces awaiting detonation, The chairman was unleashing them under the control of a necromancer. Erza is told by the twin dragon slayers to take Minerva, as well as the exceed Lector and Fro, while they fight Mard Geer. She conceded, giving them a quick warning about Mard's power levels.

Although Minerva did not know where the control room for Face is, they thankfully met up with Happy – who had the demon Franmalth growing out of his head. Minerva ripped it out by the roots and demanded that it took them to the control room, where they saw the chairman entering in commands.

Before they could stop him, they were frozen in place by the control magic of the demon known as Sayla. The curse forced Erza to choke herself, until Mirajane came crashing into the room and tackled the demon, destroying her control.

During that time the Chairman had completed the activation sequence for Face, and the countdown had begun. Kyouka absorbed the strength of Sayla, taking on Erza who needed to defeat her to stop face.

Their battle was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Acnologia, followed by a fire dragon - potentially Igneel, Natsu's father. While the group was distracted by the dragons, Kyouka received a new set of orders, to bind herself to the activation console for Face. This allowed her to speed the count down immensely.

Kyouka also entered her full demonic form at this point, striking through Erza's armor and redoubling her efforts. Erza wonderd again how the woman could be so blindly loyal, upon learning that the demon would actually die when the countdown finished. Erza argued that she was choosing death, but Kyouka demanded silence. She struck everyone with a curse, giving them immense pain and bringing them to the ground. Then, one by one, she began to steal Erza's senses. Sight, touch, taste, smell and finally sound disappeared, leaving Erza in the inky blackness.

Despite it all, Erza stood up. Not able to see, not able to hear, she punched Kyouka. She fought Kyouka, defending against attacks. Though she shouldn't have been able to see, she took on Kyouka with all her might, eventually felling the woman despite a vicious battle. Her own wounds were too great, though, and Erza collapsed as well. It was up to Minerva then to deal the final blow, to end Kyouka and Face. A moment too late.

Erza's senses returned with the end of Kyouka. She mourned over being too late, but rejoiced as the markers for Face one by one began to disappear. The dragons that had raised and taught the dragon slayers had returned, and they destroyed the thousands of pulse bombs to save the magical world.

Those dragons disappeared again, revealing that they had in truth been long dead, merely holding onto the physical world. Their children grieved. Erza also grieved, for her own reasons, even though the battle was over. The torture she had faced had brought back memories of her childhood, had made her feel weak. She had been betrayed by a figure she had trusted, tortured for no reason other than to be tortured. She wondered if she could believe in good again.

Jellal assured her that she could. Despite this brutal reminder, she had always known both the good and bad and people. She had after all seen it in him. He told her to simply continue walking in the light, while he and his group walked in darkness.

Fairy Tail, meanwhile, disbanded. It will only be temporary, as they are already starting to regather later in the series. I am taking her from right at the moment of disbandment, however, when the characters decide to go their separate ways for a while.


Character Personality: To understand Erza's personality, and how it developed, it's important to recap her history. Her formative years have yet to be explored, but we do know that Erza sacrificed herself for another child when the slavers came. She found a lost girl and told her to hide in a nearby bin, leading the slavers away and getting captured in the process. Considering the story's timeline, she could not have been much older than eleven.

We next saw her as a slave. A terrified little Erza, worried about getting caught and killed if she tried to escape. Only the words of her crush, Jellal, gave her the courage to go on with the attempt. Not as wonderful an idea as it seemed, since they were caught.

The slavers asked for the mastermind to step forward, to take the punishment for the whole group. It was Sho's plan, a scared little boy who was tearfully trying to take responsibility. Erza decided to take it off his shoulders. Jellal actually beat her to it, stepping forward just as the words began to leave Erza's mouth. It was an establishing moment for all three characters – the good natured, but scared little boy, the terrified girl who would be brave for the sake of her friends, and the natural leader who unflinchingly tried to take it all on himself.

Cultists aren't precisely known for keeping their word, though. Most likely feeling that her punishment would hurt the group most, they decided to blame Erza for the escape attempt. The torture that followed cost Erza her right eye. More important to her childhood, it caused Jellal to come rescue her. He killed several guards in the process, and was ultimately captured in her place.

As I mentioned earlier: no matter how scared Erza was, no matter what she would put up with for herself, she was even then willing to be brave for the sake of others. That was especially true for Jellal, who she admired so much. The boy who had given her the last name Scarlet. Unlike Jellal, however, Erza did not move alone. She rallied the slaves into rebellion, leading them to pick up whatever weapons they could find and strike out against their torturous masters.

The plan went well, for a short time, until the magic-wielders began to attack. Their staffs sent destructive blasts toward the slaves. They scattered Erza's makeshift army. While she screamed that they had to fight, that they had to rescue Jellal, everyone began to turn and run. The rebellion almost gave way right then, when a blast came toward Erza. It was intercepted by Rob, the “grandfather” of the group – an old member of Fairy Tail, who had been teaching Erza the wonders of magic. He had taught her that magic, at its best, was freedom. In his presence, she used to ride on a broomstick and pretend she was flying, even there in slavery. That man gave his life for her.

The grief and rage that followed was a cataclysm, unleashing the tremendous magical power that Erza would later be known for. Every discarded weapon rose up, and launched at their attackers. It wasn't so much a counter attack as an utter slaughter, the awakening of her true potential. Rallying the slaves again, she overpowered their oppressors, took the tower as her own, and rescued Jellal in the name of freedom. Not to mention a very serious crush.

It's important to recognize just how momentous this was, this battered and bruised little girl who had almost been too scared to even try escaping, leading the revolution for the sake of someone she cared about. Loyalty, and protecting those she loved, was important to Erza even then. The bonds she felt with her fellow slaves were real, and the power she had at her disposal probably surprised her most of all. All the same, Erza was too late. While caught, Jellal had been brainwashed by Ultear, a bitter young woman attempting to awaken the dark mage Zeref. Thinking that he had inherited Zeref's will, Jellal began to use magic of his own. He slaughtered the remaining guards in cold blood, right before Erza's eyes, and declared that he would finish what they started. He said that he would regather the slaves, feed them and clothe them and educate them on the wonders of the dark god they would be bringing back. He wanted Erza to join, but she refused. This wasn't the Jellal she loved, nor was this the future she wanted. She wanted him and Sho and Wally and all her friends to be free.

So Jellal cast her aside. He said that if Erza wanted freedom, she could have it for herself alone, and he used his new found power to send her back to the mainland. He also gave her a warning – that if she told anyone about the tower, that if she or anyone else came snooping around, he would have no choice but to destroy the evidence. In other words, he would kill everyone there, beginning with his former friends.

That was how Erza entered Rob's guild, Fairy Tail. Following his lead, she showed up at the guild and became one of their mages. She was very antisocial at first, siting alone while in the guild and going off to cry alone. Her solitary nature put her at odds with Gray, who thought she should show the senior members more respect. Following her one day, intending to antagonize her, he actually convinced her to become more familiar with her guild mates. He demanded to know why she was crying alone, if she truly didn't need anyone.

In the scattered glimpses of her childhood, we see that she did change a little after that point. She talked to her fellow children with a smile, though she kept her emotional distance by being quite strict with everyone. Natsu and Gray were terrified of upsetting her even then, acting buddy-buddy in her presence so that she wouldn't scold them about fighting within the guild. It was actually quite hypocritical considering she had her own rival, Mirajane.

Erza probably went on jobs and paid for her supper in the guild, as well as her room in the female dormitory Fairy Hills. Fairy Tail became her family, with the Master as the father, and his word as the law that bound them together.

Wounds like hers don't just go away though. No matter how much time passed, her former companions were never fully gone from her mind. She knew that they were still out there, forced to work on that tower, and that she could not save them. She did not dare try, because if she so much as showed up they would be killed. With those old wounds throbbing inside of her, Erza tried to protect her heart by armoring her body. Although she would occasionally wear casual outfits, she admitted that she was not comfortable outside her bulky armors.

She also resisted growing truly close with the other guild members. She became one of the top fighters, an S class mage, at fifteen, and took on powerful missions by herself without back up. She spent large amounts of time away from the guild, and when she was back, she terrorized everyone in the fun loving building with demands to drink less, be quieter, and not cause trouble for the Master. She was the sort of person who shouted orders and punched out anyone who got in her way, whether they be a fellow mage or a train conductor who wouldn't answer her question fast enough. Normally flamboyant people quivered and put on their best behaviors for her sake, referring to her as the disciplinarian of the guild. It wasn't a title that she relished. Rather, it was a title that kept her just a little bit apart from everyone and further "protected" her heart.

This side of Erza slowly began to change when she teamed up with Natsu, Gray, Happy and Lucy to form Fairy Tail's “ultimate' team. At first it was just a matter of convenience, needing some extra assistance to take on a unlawful guild. Then Natsu, Lucy and Gray decided to take on an S class mission, and Erza was dispatched to drag them home. It's important to note that, initially, Erza had no intention of helping them complete the quest. She did not care about the people who needed help, or more accurately did not want to care. She was furious that they had broken the rules of the guild that was her home, and put themselves in danger. She had no desire other than to drag them back and punish them for their behavior. It was only Gray's ultimatum to kill him or get out of the way that broke through the rage armoring Erza's heart and reminded her of her own ideals for justice. As a result, she ultimately worked together with them to fulfill the request, though she largely refused the reward. Part of her sense of justice was that since the guild hadn't officially accepted the request, they could not take the money for it. Another part was that she left the instigators of this problem alone. Even though they had tried to kill people, they had not succeeded, and ultimately they had been following their own sense of justice as well. Which wouldn't save Natsu and the gang from their own punishment, of course. Fairy Tail rules and outside laws are on a completely different ranking for her.

Then they came home to find their guild, the home she, Natsu, Happy, and Gray had grown up in, attacked. Three of their members were nailed to a tree, and someone was attempting to kidnap Lucy, their friend. Again, the situation required her to fight alongside her guild mates, putting everything on the line to avenge their family and protect one of their own. Erza personally absorbed a massive magical cannon attack meant to wipe out the guild and its members. It took up quite a bit of her strength, and stopped her from lending too much power in the battle as a whole. Which didn't stop her from taking down one of the most powerful members from the attacking guild. Ultimately, though, it was the combined efforts of the Fairy Tail's members that led to their victory.

Perhaps it also made a dent in Erza's internal armor, seeing everyone come together like that. She personally suggested that Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Gray, and her make their team permanent, since fate seemed to be continuously throwing them together. After all those years of keeping herself separated, Erza enjoyed being part of the group.

Still, the wounds from her childhood remained. Although she tried to relax with Natsu and gang at a casino, she had to admit to herself that it was useless. She could not fully relax unless she was in armor. In other words, she couldn't truly let her guard down. She was too scared of getting hurt or losing the people she loved.

Thankfully, for the sake of Erza's future, the past has a way of catching up with people. After eight years, the “tower of paradise,” designed to resurrect Zeref, was complete. It only needed two things: the magical power to activate, and a human sacrifice to provide the vessel for Zeref's return. Jellal wanted to use Erza for that sacrifice. Perhaps, he thought it was poetic, considering she was the one who helped him seize this power - albeit accidentally. Perhaps, some part of him hoped she would stop him or maybe he was just being especially sadistic. He had apparently blown up all the boats they could have used to escape the tower, and blamed it on Erza, claiming that she went mad with her new found magical power. In other words, Jellal went out of his way to turn Erza's one-time companions against her. The friends she had spent years wishing she could save were the ones who dragged her back to the site of that childhood trauma.

Erza escaped, as Jellal had perhaps expected. She fought her way up the tower to take him on. Along the way she reunited with her old friend Simon, and made amends with Sho, explaining the truth of what happened. With Simon's help, her other friends stopped fighting her. That didn't mean it was all smooth sailing, though.

On her way to Jellal, Erza was pitted against Ikaruga. The woman tore through every suit of armor the redhead wore, tearing apart the defenses she had put so much pride in. This lead to a very important realization for Erza: she put too much focus on defense. Rather, she tried too hard to fill the gap between her and the outside world with metal, covering up the “chinks in their hearts” through which friendship and bonding could occur. Erza declared that her fear made her weak. Crying and scared that she couldn't save anyone, keeping everyone at a distance, she really didn't have the power that she needed.

Erza stripped herself of her armor, then. Finally accepting her companions in her heart, and the strength that they gave her, she donned nothing but chest bindings and simple pants. She rid herself of defense and focused all her power into her blade – all her feelings into her attack. It enabled her to win the battle. It also became her strongest “armor” - what she wears when things are at their most serious, and she can't afford to worry about her own body. When she wears this, it is the equivalent of putting all her trust into the bond she shares with her friends, so that she can protect those friends with all her power.

With that battle done, Erza was finally able to reach Jellal, and she almost defeated him. Unfortunately, for all the evil Jellal had committed, Erza still believed in her former leader. The strong and compassionate boy who had come to save her. She wanted to think there was still good in him. So when he pretended to have come back to his senses, and claimed he'd only been Zeref's puppet, Erza believed him. She accepted it, thinking that the magic council was about to unleash the magical cannon Etherion upon the tower anyway. From the very start, her plan had been dying with him, erasing the guilt she felt for being unable to protect her friends in those eight years.

It was all part of Jellal's plan, though. He used her moment of weakness to place a binding spell on her. The cannon did descend, but it was just a way for him to charge the tower with magical energy. Erza gave up hope for a moment, and it was only through Natsu's interference that Jellal was temporarily halted. Jellal was strong, however, and nearly defeated the dragon slayer. Erza, in turn attempted to intercept a blast that would have killed Natsu, still willing to die for her friends. Erza's old friend Simon gave his life, taking it instead. He had always loved and believed in her. In the end, thanks to the determination of her friends, Jellal was defeated, and Erza survived despite her near suicide attempts.

She still almost threw it away, though. The tower began to collapse, and the magical power was losing stability, The entire thing was going to explode and wipe out all her friends. Erza thought that if she joined with the magic, as Jellal had intended, she could control and redirect the blast. It would also tear her apart at a molecular level if she did so. That didn't stop her. Erza would have gladly sacrificed her life for the sake of her friends, and the erasal of past debts.

While in Etherion, Erza dreamed that she had in fact died. Fairy Tail had a memorial. She was given a permanent ranking among the top ten wizard saints, to commemorate her bravery. No one was happy, though. The friends that she had sacrificed her life to save, who she had wanted to live and smile forever, were all crying. Markov claimed she was like a daughter. Natsu was screaming that she couldn't possibly be dead. It wasn't what Erza wanted. That's what she cried out as she faded away. She hadn't wanted to see this misery on her friends faces.

She woke up in Natsu's arms, her friends crying out in excitement to see her. She realized that Natsu must have gone after her, into Etherion's storm of power, and dragged her out. Her friends were screaming out in happiness, telling her they had been worried. Natsu told her never to do it again, that all of them were the same, suffering their pains together. That was when Erza finally came to a realization: you don't die for your friends, you live for them. You struggle to survive with them. You stay by their sides and trust your bonds with them to see you through each day, no matter how bad it gets. You survive alongside your friends.

It was arguably the most important realization of Erza's life. After that point, after everything that had happened, she was finally able to move on. For the sake of everyone who had died for her, and everyone who loved her, she decided that she would never treat her life as worthless, or sacrifice herself, again.

Simon was dead, and Jellal seemed to be gone, but Sho, Milliana and Wally remained alive, and now knew the truth. They chose to go their own path rather than sticking closer to Erza, and reminding her of what she had been through. She grieved to lose contact with them, but understood that they had to find their own path, the same way she had found Fairy Tail. They were free now, and with that, the wounds finally began to heal. The Erza we know began to develop.

After the Tower of Paradise Arc, Erza finally seemed to find her true place in the guild. She no longer spent all her time reprimanding trouble makers, or yelling at the guild members about their habits: their drinking or their fighting. When Erza first debuted in the series, her appearance would stop everyone in their tracks. After this, she was more a part of the fun, fighting and laughing with everyone else. She also changed her dress code a little. Although she did continue wearing armor, her main outfit became much less bulky, a more casual armor meant to represent that she no longer needed to put such strong barriers between herself and the world.

In her free time, and in the Fairy Tail specials, we see some more of Erza's cute side. She's someone who loves desserts, like strawberry shortcake. She enjoys “barrel surfing,” even knowing it'll end in disaster. When she plays pool, she shoots the cue hard enough to burst through the balls, and smiles in satisfaction. She's terrible at acting, but acts like she's good at it, and has a happy smile on her face regardless of how badly she stutters while on the stage. She takes even the silliest competition seriously, giving her all to everything she joins- likes Miss Fairy Tail. Heaven help her if you put her in a casino, because she'll take that serious too, wearing her bunny outfit and clubbing anyone who gets in her way.

She has a cute and even playful side, in other words. She's also very socially awkward, thanks to living her life among a bunch of rambunctious wizards who don't know the meaning of delicacy or quiet. In one special, she actually demanded that a maid-waitress strip and donat her clothes to the mission. It says something about Erza's strength of personality that the woman did just that – and it says something about Erza's personality that, having dressed as a maid, she marched up to her target's table and slammed down a sword. The outfit wasn't even necessary, per se – but Erza probably thought something like "If you're doing a mission in a maid cafe, you should dress like a maid." Besides, she loves cosplay. Her favorite armor is the playboy bunny suit– or at least that's what she told Sorcerer Magazine. Maybe she had even intended to make use of the disguise, when she made the maid strip, before she lost her temper at hearing the target claim membership in Fairy Tail.

Erza has odd views when it comes to nakedness anyway, even if it's not as bad as Gray's exhibitionist habit. Erza's requip magic allows her to exchange one suit of armor for another, but there is a split second shift in between. In other words, Erza has been frequently, if only momentarily, naked – even in the middle of battle. She never seems to mind. For guild mates in particular, she doesn't care if they see her naked, and has frequently offered to bathe with Natsu and Gray like they did as children. Truth to tell, Erza doesn't really seem to fully understand the social impact of nakedness or sex appeal when it comes to a human body. She supposedly likes to read books that are a little lewd in nature, so she's certainly aware of the concept, but so far as actual bodies go... She must understand to some extent, considering she joined a beauty contest and owns seduction armor. Yet for so long, her body was just a weapon honed to protect the guild. For more practical purposes, Erza still has trouble seeing it as more than that.

No matter how goofy and socially awkward she can be, though, Erza remains a force to be reckoned with. Spill her strawberry shortcake, or land even an accidental punch on her person, or worst of all misuse the name of Fairy Tail, and Erza will rain her personal fury down upon you. Part of Fairy Tail's rowdy nature is that they kick even each others' asses, and Erza isn't an exception when properly riled up.

Of course, their true power is reserved for enemies of the guild. While Natsu is most famous for saying it, Erza embodies it as well as anyone. It doesn't matter if it's the world at stake, or the government who's against them. It doesn't matter if you're doing it to save your best friend's life, or because you're hoping to line your pockets with gold. If you stand against the guild, if you stand against Erza's family, she will fight you with everything she has. She said it best of all in chapter 376.5 - “I don't care if you steal or shoot... But I won't ever forgive anyone that forge's Fairy Tail's name. Not in any way. Not in any time. We live with pride in our guild's name. This seal we've carved into ourselves isn't merely decoration. It's the proof of our bond as a family. Binding our fates together, we put our lives on the line. Anyone that steps on that holy vow... Be they evil or good, I will cut them down.”

That said, it isn't as if they're a cult. Each member has their own ideas of justice, and the Master himself claimed that Fairy Tail is bout following their own form. That's why Erza was ultimately willing to put her mission on hold, to help Natsu and Gray complete their S class mission. That's why Erza, after striking down the false Fairy Tail member, did not turn her into the police. As a member of Fairy Tail, Erza has her own sense of justice that ultimately guides her. It's not always connected to the laws of the kingdom or the magical council, both of which Fairy Tail has occasionally stood against. They went against the dark guild Oracion Seis of their own volition, for example, regardless of actual laws against picking fights with guilds, dark or otherwise. They've also attempted to defend former criminals, who they personally felt had made amends and counted as their friends.

Erza keeps a more level head then many of her friends, though. She's an intelligent tactician, who knows when it's best to hold back. One might stand against the kingdom, but one doesn't attack it unless they don't have a choice. One has to be aware of strategy before they go out and attack. But once she has a goal, an enemy to fight, nothing will stop her from protecting her family. She's already lost her birth family, and her slave-family. She won't ever go through that loss again – or put others through the pain of losing her. As she puts it to Kagura, in the magic games, throwing away her life would be spitting in the face of everyone who had sacrificed themselves for her. Just as she protects this guild, this guild protects her: by giving her something to live for, and not just something to die for.

That's the essence of Erza. A strong willed woman who's willing to do anything to protect her family, who has her own sense of justice and goes after it without much concern for the world's laws, except where it might negatively affect her loved ones. Someone who is protected by the feelings of her friends, which gives her the courage to stand and fight, Not just for their sake, but for the sake of the family as a whole, which includes her. Even when they're split into teams, like in the magic festival, Erza still protects Fairy Tail as a whole. We see that in a recent chapter, in the battle of a hundred monsters. Every person in order was given the right to challenge any number of the hundred monsters available, with one point for each – but if they lost, they would gain no points for the round. It would be impossible to guess how strong the monsters they got would be, as any still available could be put against them. Erza chose to battle all one hundred, not only winning the battle, but ruining the challenge for the remainder. The reason why she did this, instead of just guaranteeing her victory with fifty one monsters, was not to show off. It was so that the second Fairy Tail team that had entered would not be left in last place. By destroying the challenge, she protected her friends – because even if they were competing, they were still members of Fairy Tail.

Currently, Fairy Tail has disbanded. Erza has seen horrible things, and has been hurt deeply,. She has gone off to gather her strength and reaffirm her belief in good. The essence of her character, however, has remained unchanged. That is exactly why Fairy Tail had to disband – so that they could grow strong enough to bond together again.

Next, I'd like to take a little time to explore Erza's relationships with the members of Fairy Tail. The Guild has a lot of members, and while each of them have interesting personalities and wonderful back stories, most of them don't have enough screen time to have formed a direct and visible relationship with Erza. We know that she occasionally borrows books from Levy, that she approves of Juvia, and that last time she checked in with Gajeel she was still a little suspicious of him, or at least doesn't consider him fully “ready” to be counted among the guild's top members. She seems to like Happy and Carla well enough, and has happily sparred with Pantherlily. She hasn't spent much time talking to Wendy. The two do have a sweet tooth in common, though, and apparently went on a mission together to get a rare dessert as a reward.

Her oldest relationships in the guild would be Markov, Laxus, Cana, Natsu, Gray, Mira, Lisana, and Elfman. It can most likely be assumed she's on decent terms with Lisana and Elfman, despite the latter's habit of saying "If you're a man!", and she's probably fond of Cana, even if she does disapprove of the excess drinking. Laxus turned quite vicious for a while, even briefly turning against the guild, but he's still the Master's grandson and he did stand by the guild when they needed him most. I would classify her relationship with him as cautious, but optimistic.

Mira falls into the rival category, though they could probably be called friends too after all this time. The two of them used to get into constant fights. After the Grand Magic Games, Erza was subjected to a punishment game for losing at rock paper scissors. Mira made her dress up as a maid and spanked her as a form of humiliation. After midnight, when the punishment games ended, Erza returned the favor. As perverted from its original form as it might be, the rivalry remains strong.

Her relationship with Gray and Natsu has changed a lot. When she first met Gray, he thought she should show him respect. By the time we saw them next, he and Natsu were both terrified of her, something that was still true during her first adult appearance. In truth, they're both still pretty scared of pissing her off, as she's fully capable of kicking them into next Wednesday. They've come a long way from trembling in her presence though. The days when Natsu could only say “AI!” when she walked into a room are gone.

Natsu has personally defended Erza at times, declaring that he would protect her from crying and attempting to save her from the council's arrest. He very much wants to beat her in battle one day, and she very much encourages this, looking forward to when he grows into his full strength as a team member. That said, she's still quite wary of being put in a position of vulnerability around him, like when she was magically turned into a child. Among her first thoughts were how Natsu, and Gray, would take the opportunity to test their strength against hers.

Gray seems a lot less intent on picking a fight with Erza, though, being a lot more cool headed, and even a little bit cold. He too would go out of his way to protect her, though, as a friend and a guild mate. Yet he was also included in the fantasy as taking advantage of her smaller form. No matter how well they all get along now, Erza did use to come down on them quite heavily for all the fighting they did. While she trusts him to back her up in battle, she wouldn't want to be physically vulnerable in front of him, during a more casual setting. Rivalry is a big part of her bond with those two, as well.

Master Markov is the father figure of the guild, meanwhile. He views them as his children, and for members like Erza he's the only parent available. His word is to a large extent law for Erza, and his judgment is trusted. As someone who believes in thinking for herself, she will go against him if absolutely necessary. For example, when he ordered everyone to escape Tenrou Island to get away from Acnologia, she ultimately came back with the rest of Fairy Tail to stand by their Master's side. Perhaps it had something to do with her earlier fight against Azuma, where she realized it was her friends who were always protecting her, and not the other way around – their love and loyalty which gave her the strength to continue. She couldn't abandon her father figure after a realization like that. Some things are more important than orders, or logic.

Lucy is another member of her team, and one of the newest members in Fairy Tail. She lacks the childhood friendship Natsu and Gray have with Erza, but that also means she lacks some of their instinctive fear. She's actually been shown to have a deep respect for Erza's strength, and Erza seems to care about Lucy's opinions as well. When she's fighting on Tenrou, and considers trying seduction armor, her immediate thought is “What if Lucy saw?”, indicating some concern for the woman's opinion. Apparently she also crept into Lucy's bed for company during the grand magic games. Lucy is the girl she spends the most time with, after all, so she's probably Erza's closest female friend. I'd say another part of it is that Lucy's pretty much the closest thingto a normal human being in the guild, especially among the women. Wendy is a child, Mira turns into a demon, Cana drinks alcohol by the barrel... While Lucy looks to Erza as a role model of strength, Erza looks to Lucy as a role model for a "normal" person, with actual social skill. As mentioned earlier, Erza remains quite socially awkward when it comes to behavioral norms outside the guild.

She does have relationships that precede her guild membership, though. Simon, who always had a crush on her, is dead. Rob, who taught her magic, is dead too. That leaves Millianna, Sho, Wally and Jellal among the living. The first three are simple enough. Truth be told, she was away from them for eight years, so she doesn't actually know their current personalities that well. All the same they're still dear friends to her, and very close to her heart - even if they're mostly preserved as "childhood friends" in her memory. Millianna in particular showed up in the Grand Magic Games, and Erza became furious when Minerva threatened the girl's well being. From what she said to Kagura, she still views Millianna as mostly an innocent kid, too. All the same, even though they may be walking “different paths” Erza views them as her dear family members. They're a part of her that she'll always love, like little siblings one doesn't get to see as much as they'd like.

Jellal is the most complicated of her relationships, though. He was the initial leader of their slave rebellion, and her hero. He gave her the name Scarlet, after her hair, saying it wasn't right that she didn't have a last name. He was her first love. Even when he was at his worst, she wanted to believe there was good in there. When she managed to survive the tower's explosion, she told Lucy in confidence that she believed Jellal might have reverted to his old self at the very end, and helped to save her. After all, she really should have been torn apart a molecular level long before Natsu found her.



Even if Jellal was her angel, he was also her demon. Under the influence of Ultear's brainwashing, he cast her out of the tower and cut her off from the only family she had left. He made her live eight years of pain and guilt, feeling like she couldn't save anyone. Eight years of cutting herself off from everyone, feeling as if she didn't deserve more and scared to reach for it in any case. Eight years crying on the inside, while smiling for the guild. He hurt her so much. Hurt everyone she cared about, all for the goal of bringing back a dark wizard who would only hurt more people.

Then he died. Then he came back. Jellal had lost his memory of everything bad that had been done. The only thing he could remember was Erza's name – that, and the hope of Natsu's power. The brainwashed programming seemed to be gone too, and with his partial memory he tried to destroy the dark magic Oracion Seis had set after, and to kill himself so as to repent and “release” Erza from her pain. She didn't want that. She didn't want him to have forgotten, either. Seeing him brought back all that hurt and anger and rage. So easy to forgive when he was gone, so hard to forget when he was standing in front of her, claiming no knowledge of all that suffering. Seeing Jellal again brought back love, and memories of kinder times – but it also brought back all the hurt that he had put her through. The friends that he had hurt, and the man that he had killed. Erza wanted him to remember the pain that he had caused, so that she could be angry at him for it, a simple emotion to cling to when everything was so confused. Yet with his memories gone, he had apparently reverted back to the Jellal she had known. The Jellal she had loved as a child.

Erza demanded that he live and repent, rather than taking the easy way out, and accepted his help. Working with him began to ease some of her anger and bring back some of her fonder memories. Together with him, her guild mates, and other allies, they were able to defeat their enemy, Oracion Seis. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to work out their feelings. Just as Erza declared her desire to be there for him, the magic council swooped down to arrest Jellal for his crimes. Erza froze at the thought, realizing that she didn't want to be separated from him. The others, sensing her feelings, attempted to physically overpower the council, yelling that Jellal needed to come with them.

Ultimately, the level headed Erza put a stop to it. Putting aside her own feelings of grief for the sake of the guild's future, and realizing what would happen if they tried to take the council head on, Erza told them to stop. She took responsibility and gave them permission to take Jellal away. Perhaps it would have been different if a guild mate was in trouble - though she might have tried legal recourse first, regardless. Either way, she couldn't allow her guild to fall for the sake of her feelings, when Jellal really had committed the crimes. She cried at losing him, but returned to her family.

The bond between them remained, however. When she was fighting on Tenrou Island, Jellal felt her pained fight all the way from his prison cell. His thoughts reached her, reminding her to stay strong. Her thoughts didn't linger on him, though, thinking it was impossible to have heard him at such a distance. They turned instead toward the guild and her friends. It was them that Erza needed to focus on, their lives at stake. No matter how much she cares for Jellal, Erza's family will always come first. That is the only certainty in her relationship with him. Their meetings weren't over yet, though.


Acnologia attacked Tenrou, and the guild members almost died. To protect them, Fairy Tai's first Master Mavis sealed them away from the world. The seal lasted seven years, during which the guild mates outside the island suffered and the guild dwindled. It was considered the weakest guild, laughed at and teased, much to the ire of the core members upon their return. During that time, Jellal also escaped from prison. Rather, he was broken out by the very Ultear who had once brainwashed him, and her semi-adoptive daughter Meredy. Although he had recovered his memories, Jellal remained his better self.

They met with Erza, to ask for help in identifying a dark magic found in the games. In payment, they increased the magic power of several members, including Erza, so that they could close the seven year gap created by their absence from the world. More important for her, was the chance this gave her and Jellal to talk.

They almost kissed, actually. Perhaps their lips even did touch, before Jellal pulled away. He claimed he had a fiancee, so they couldn't see each other. It was a rather clumsy lie, Erza later said, but at the time she pretended to believe it. It seemed to her that this was answer, in and of itself, and one that she could accept.

Jellal had recovered his old self, but that couldn't wipe away his crimes in the eyes of the world. He was a fugitive on the run, and joining him would have meant either putting her guild in danger or leaving Fairy Tail. Those were two things she couldn't do, even for him. His clumsy lie just made things easier. To an extent. The truth is, the feelings they share will never be simple, so long as they both continue to live. She has a connection to them, but she will not put her friends at risk to explore it.

Erza's a good and loyal person, after all. That isn't to say she doesn't have a darker side, though. As strong willed and righteous as Erza normally is, we don't see a lot of true darkness in her, but she certainly sees it in herself. When she met her Edolas counterpart, she declared that "Erza Knightwalker" had her weaknesses and darkness, so she must also have Scarlet's heart and loyalty. A wonderful thought, but it betrays a little something of how our Erza sees herself. While they might embody different aspects, Scarlet knows that not everything she does is good.

Her inability to connect to others in her early years is a prime example. The way she beat Loki to a pulp for flirting with her, or how she would knock out people who didn't give her the proper information. Knocking Natsu unconscious with a stomach punch, to ease his travel sickness, was another example. Not even a blow to the head, but a painful stomach punch to overwhelm him. When her fear is at its highest, Erza kind heart doesn't always shine through. In her weakness and inability to connect, she can cause pain to others while trying to protect herself.