Chapter 21: Done With You
I deeply apologize for the long hiatus. As an apology and a gift to the followers of Fairy Love, I uploaded this on Wattpad too. Same title, same author name. Only difference is I took the liberty of adding media to the story to add more color to it.
Once I finish Fairy Love, I will compile all the chapters (media included) and save it in a book-style format (PDF). Eventually, I plan to release it somewhere for free so you guys can download it (I'm looking into if I can upload it there and it can be downloaded for free, but just lmk if you guys know somewhere I can upload it for free for convenience's sake), so please PM me if you have something you need to know, I'll get back to you (I'm not yet dead hahaha).
Also, I encourage you guys to read the previous chapters as a refresher so you can immerse yourself more with this update. Btw, I add a lot of exposition on the character's narrative so you can understand what made me think that they would do that or think that. This way, there would be more depth to the characters.
With that said, pls do enjoy the story :)
"This quest isn't a joke, so don't let your guards down and stick to the plan. Understood?" Erza asked.
Team Natsu was on a mission. They missed taking missions together, so they took a 10-year quest for old times' sake.
"Sounds good to me." Gray said.
"Got it!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Then let's all set up camp here tonight and continue our search in the morning." Erza commanded.
Team Natsu set up camp in the mountain, with Lucy and Wendy sharing a tent. Happy and Carla shared a tent together, while Gray had his tent to himself. Natsu and Erza shared a tent upon Erza's insistence that they do. It was supposed to be the boys sharing a tent together, and while the other members of Team Natsu did find it questionable that Erza wanted to share the tent with Natsu, they all figured she had her reason. After working together with Erza for so long, one thing they realised is that Erza always had a reason for doing things. They thought she shared the tent with Natsu to keep him in check.
Currently, they were all resting up after they finished setting up camp. It was almost time for dinner, with Lucy and Wendy taking Happy and Carla to go exploring, and Gray napping in his tent.
"When do we eat?" Natsu asked Erza, alone with her in their tent.
"Are you hungry already?" Erza asked teasingly.
"No, just asking."
"Wanna pass the time?" Erza hinted sultrily.
"Not now, Gray might hear us." Natsu caught the hint, but he didn't want anybody knowing about his relationship with Erza.
"We'll just have to be more quiet." Erza insisted eagerly, already settling herself in Natsu's lap and taking off his jacket.
While some people knew that Erza is a closet pervert, Natsu was the only one who knew the full extent of her erotic energy. Erza was a nymphomaniac, but only because it's Natsu.
Resigning himself to the fact that Erza had already made up her mind and wasn't gonna back down, he figured that he'll just go along with what she wanted, and maybe satisfy her just enough to tire her out.
"Speak for yourself." Natsu kissed Erza hungrily, fueled by lust.
…
"Over there!" Lucy pointed at a mango hanging by the tree.
Wendy used her magic to jostle the mango loose and caught it with her hands.
"Here you go, Lucy-san" Wendy offered it to Lucy, who responded with gratitude "Thank you, Wendy."
While Lucy, Wendy, Happy, and Carla were exploring, they got a lost, and were now finding their way back to camp. Lucy got a little hungry, so she asked Wendy to get her a mango using her wind magic.
Happy and Carla were currently flying around to survey the whole area, looking for the way back to camp.
Lucy shared the mango with Wendy while they waited for Happy and Carla, when all of a sudden, they heard a loud roar followed by overwhelming magical energy.
"What was that?!" Lucy exclaimed. Wendy responded with a worried look.
…
1 Month Ago
The key wizards of Fiore in the Alvarez War were too caught up partying in the Fairy Tail guild hall, forgetting the person they were celebrating in the first place.
In an old basement under the Fairy Tail guild, three of its S-Class mages were locked in a tense atmosphere. Mira and Natsu were looking at each other in shock, while Erza had on a hint of a victorious grin plastered on her face.
"Mira…" Natsu's mind went blank. He wasn't sure how to explain the situation to Mira.
Mira and Erza's eyes met. Erza smirked at Mira mockingly "Seems like you caught us at a bad time."
"I was wondering why Natsu spent so much time with you." Mira said angrily. Even though Mira was angry, on the inside, she was also scared. Mira was scared of hearing Erza's answer. She trusted Natsu with her life, and she was terrified to know that he broke her trust. Deep down, she was hoping that what she saw was just a misunderstanding.
Whenever Erza spent time Natsu, Mira felt uneasy. She thought that he was just doing it out of a sense of friendship towards Erza, but even then, Mira hated the fact that she was splitting her boyfirend's time with someone else. She knew she was being unreasonable because Natsu was her boyfriend, not her property. He had his own life to live too.
And yet she didn't know why, but it seems like her intuition was telling her something was wrong.
So all those times Natsu said he had to be somewhere with Erza, was this the kind of relationship they had? When did it start? How did this happen under her nose, when she was practically glued to Natsu all the time whenever he wasn't with Erza?
"I hate you." Mira seethed at Erza with a death glare. Erza was already expecting a strong reaction from Mira, but was still startled by the bloodlust Mira was showing. At the moment, Erza couldn't help but wonder if Mira was always capable of such hatred.
Erza trembled slightly. Honestly, she was slightly terrified of Mira right now. But she was also angry. She understood why Mira would be furious, but so was she. How dare this bitch steal her Natsu?
If only Mira hadn't stolen Natsu from her in a moment of confusion.
If only she had a little more time to clarify her feelings and get back to Natsu.
If only Natsu's heart wasn't occupied by Mira, there would still be room for her.
"So behind that obnoxious smile of yours, that's what you really felt? You should've told me sooner." Erza mocked Mira with a smirk, trying to get a bad reaction from her. In her head, ever since Erza started battling Mira for Natsu's love and attention, her introspection led her to observe a lot of things she otherwise wouldn't even have entertained thinking of before: she thought that Mira's kindness was out of pretention, that she's been bottling up her feelings this whole time, that she was jealous of girls who got close to Natsu, and was possessive of Natsu too. She didn't buy Mira's perfect facade.
"Shut your mouth! You already knew how much Natsu and I loved each other, but still, you…" Mira angrily exclaimed, shaking from rage, tears almost threatening to spill from her eyes at the cacophony of emotions she was experiencing right now.
Erza's smirk decreased.
"After all these years, I thought of you as my own sister, and yet…" Mira started tearing up.
"...You're always going on about others doing what's right, but doesn't it apply to you too?"
Erza's expression shifted from smirking to a blank look on her face.
"Did you honestly think I didn't know anything? I knew it the moment you started liking Natsu too." Natsu and Erza's eyes widened at this revelation. "How could I not? The moment you fall in love with someone, you become more sensitive to the people around him."
"Even though I felt uncomfortable with Natsu spending more time with you, I just let it happen. I figured it was the best consolation I could give you to get over your feelings for Natsu. I thought that over time, you would learn to forget your fleeting love for Natsu, but…"
Mira clenched her fists.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you would do something like this - that you were even capable of doing something like this"
"You had your chance with Natsu, and you were the one who blew it. How dare you-"
Erza angrily cut Mira off. "Shut up with that already!"
"You have no idea how miserable I've been, always playing the villain in your stupid fairy tale!" Erza was shaking with anger.
"I'm only human, my feelings change too. I can't change how I feel. It's become way more painful to hold it in rather than act on it…"
Erza turned to Natsu and looked at him warmly "That's why I'm glad that the man I fell in love with has such a huge heart. Despite what I've done to you, you still found it in yourself to forgive me and accept me for who I am now." Erza implied Natsu accepted her feelings. Erza was trying to make Mira think that Natsu cheated on her voluntarily.
"As if! Don't start with that, Erza." Natsu quickly caught on to what she was trying to do, but it was too late. Erza smirked.
Natsu's eyes widened when realization hit him. Looking at Mira, he saw how betrayed she looked. He knew how big Mira's trust issues were. When the villagers in Mira's hometown ostracized her and her siblings, her distrust of strangers was deeply ingrained into her soul. It took years for her to even begin trusting the members of Fairy Tail. While Mira did see the members of Fairy Tail as her family, deep down, she reserved her utmost complete 100% of trust to her siblings and Master Makarov (seeing him as a foster parent figure), until her relationship with Natsu developed and the number of people she could fully surrender her trust to grew by 1.
So in Natsu's mind, it wasn't about the fact that he could simply tell Mira that Erza was lying, the reason why he was so worried was because Erza had already planted distrust in Mira's mind. Coupled with what Mira walked in on what he was doing with Erza, it would be gravely difficult to explain the situation to Mira now. If there's anything he noticed about Mira from their time together, it was that as difficult as it was to gain her trust, it was just as easy to lose it.
So looking at Mira, he saw that the tears she's been doing her best to hold in has finally erupted. She looked at Natsu with a face of utter betrayal and sadness, as if saying farewell with looks alone.
But even if Natsu knew Mira wasn't in a listening mood, he still had to try and explain the truth to her, if she would even still believe him.
"Mira, you know I would never do this unless I was forced to. When I said I loved you, I've never been so sure of my feelings in my entire life. Erza forced me to do this with her, please believe me, Mira" Natsu pleaded. Mira had to give him a chance to explain the truth.
Mira just kept her eyes on the ground while crying.
From Mira's point-of-view, her suspicions of Natsu's intimate relationship with Erza was confirmed the moment she walked in on them. Despite that however, she was still willing to listen to Natsu because that's also how desperate Mira was to keep her unyielding trust in Natsu.
Finally, Mira sniffled and raised her eyes to look at Natsu, allowing him to explain.
"That night during Gramps' birthday party, when we did the play, Erza took me in my sleep…" Mira flinched at this revelation "...and at first, I was going to come clean right away. But a wave of stupidity washed over me and I let Erza convince me that no one would believe me over her. And then it got worse, Erza took things with me a step further and we started doing this-" Natsu signalled at his half-naked frame (Natsu put on his pants already and Erza had already Requipped into her Ataraxia dress), telling Mira when Erza started being physically intimate with him.
"At first, I thought Erza was just going through something with Jellal, so the only reason I let it go on for so long was because I had faith that Erza would eventually come to her senses, but as the days became weeks, and weeks became months, I realized that this is what Erza really felt" Saying this, Natsu grabbed Mira's hands and looked at her pleadingly "Im really sorry Mira, please trust me when I say that my heart still only belongs to you."
At this point, Mira had stopped crying, "You said that you entertained Erza's demands because she was holding it over you and you even wanted to help her come to her senses, but in the end, the choice was yours. Even if there was a chance that no one would believe you, didn't you trust me at all?" Mira had already stopped crying, and her face just echoed sadness and disappointment.
Natsu's world became blurry when he realized what had happened.
In her own twisted way, Erza got what she wanted.
Mira couldn't trust Natsu anymore.
…
Back to the present (1 Month Later), after the mission with Natsu and Erza
Natsu and Erza was walking back to his house, hands intertwined.
"What do you want for dinner tonight? We still have some leftover boar steak from last night." Erza said with a skip in her step.
"Dunno, I'm not feeling like eating meat tonight."
Erza had a comical look of shock on her face "Impossible… you, not in the mood for meat. Is there something wrong with your stomach? Want to have a check-up with Porlyusica-san now? I think she's still awake at this time."
"Just because I'm in the mood for something else doesn't mean there's something wrong with me! What kind of person only eats one thing all the time?" Natsu responded exaggeratedly, as if to match Erza's comical response.
Erza chuckled "Ok ok, I'm just yanking your chain. But in all seriousness, any requests for tonight? The food stalls at The Square (the colloquial name of The Magnolia Town Square) are gonna close soon, it's already 5:30"
At this point in time, Erza had already improved her cooking skills to the point that her food can already be mistaken for a chef's cooking. She practiced really hard so that she can feed Natsu and their future kids (in her mind) well. She wasn't going to settle for anything less than perfection, with Natsu and their future family's happiness in her mind, she spent a bulk of her time every single day perfecting her cooking skills and memorizing recipes. Even when she was down with the flu or tired from a mission, she still worked on her cooking skills nonetheless. This was one of the ways her obsession with Natsu manifested itself.
To explain Natsu and Erza's odd closeness:
A month ago at the guild basement, Natsu desperately continued to try and convince Mira that he was forced into the intimate relationship with Erza, but after about 3 hours of rather tiresome convincing from Natsu's part and firm refusal from Mira, it reached its conclusion when Mira suggested they take a break from each other. When Natsu asked her how much time she needed, Mira said that she'd tell Natsu what would become of their relationship after thinking it over carefully.
Luckily, their absence wasn't that palpable because everyone else was too busy having fun at the party.
Thus, a month had passed, and Mira continued to avoid Natsu. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the guild. But whenever someone asked what was going on, of course they said it was nothing, to save face and not make a bigger deal out of it. In reality, Natsu didn't know what Mira's decision was, and Mira just couldn't seem to make her mind, stuck in a brutal tug-of-war in her decision to end their relationship, one side of her saying to believe Natsu and it wasn't his fault; and the other side of her unable to believe Natsu was that gullible and easily played by Erza, almost as if he wanted to be intimate with Erza deep inside him, which explained his failed resistance to Erza's immoral demands.
In the midst of this crisis in Natsu and Mira's relationship, Erza used this as her opportunity to show her commitment to Natsu. One day, out of anger at Erza, out of other people's earshot, Natsu angrily made it clear to Erza that he knew what she was trying to do, and now that Mira already found out about them anyway, he didn't care what Erza told everyone at the guild anymore. He refused to cater to her whims anymore, and blamed her for what happened to his relationship with Mira. In his mind, he was already beyond his odd way of helping Erza, she completely fell out of favor with him.
But Erza said that she understood, and that she was fine with it. But she pleaded with Natsu to not cut her out from his life and to please continue treating her as a friend at least.
Natsu refused her request, and told her to stay away from him and Mira from now on, or else he won't stop at ignoring her. He threatened her by saying that he will go somewhere far away where no one else would find him, even Happy. In his mind, if Erza really loved him like she said she did, this was a warning that she wouldn't be able to disobey.
Just as he thought, Erza albeit reluctantly, said that she would stay away from them.
Hearing her response, deep inside Natsu's heart, he warmed up to Erza a little. Because now he knew that she really did love him in her heart of hearts, and he also thought about how tragic it was that she couldn't return his feelings sooner.
He wouldn't have been comforted by Mira in the first place, and their newfound closeness wouldn't have developed into a romance. He would have been with Erza without any problems and they would have probably been officially a family by now (seeing how Erza was a closet pervert, and contrary to what everyone else thought about her, she wasn't shy to the idea of having sex with her partner so long as she 100% loved him).
As time went on, there was a dark cloud looming over the guild. Natsu and Mira's once loving-turned-distant was heavy, and Erza was rarely at the guild anymore.
Until one rainy night, on Natsu's way home by himself from the guild, he looked up at the Fairy Hills path and saw Erza just standing on top of the hill, looking at the distance with a melancholic look and drenching herself in the rain.
He was initially just going to ignore it, but there was something about Erza's pathetic frame that softened him up. Add this to the fact that he was emotionally exhausted from a long day of bearing the heavy atmosphere he and Mira created in the guild (given his nature, he had a lower resistance to emotional burdens than most people. He's always been a guy who wore his heart on his sleeve after all), and he was bound to do something out of character.
He walked up to Erza, and after having a real talk with her, they eventually decided to resume their friendship.
If only he knew that Erza still had plans of claiming his heart, she was just smart enough to realize that she had to work on it slowly. In a moment of reflection, Erza did admit that in hindsight, her approach with Natsu was too hasty, and she could've done it a better way. But what can she do? It's already happened, all she can do now is move forward with her mistake.
She was glad that all it took was some time for Natsu to accept her as a friend again. Until Natsu approached her in the rain, her thoughts were leading her to a dark path of claiming her life.
After some time, Natsu and Erza resumed their physical relationship in the sense that they became fuck-buddies, but this was actually more so for Natsu's benefit.
His draconic instinct of increased sexual energy was awakened when he did it for the first time with Mira. Ever since then, he couldn't go more than 3 days without having sex. With Mira icing him out and him doing the same to Erza, it's been quite some time since he last did it, and while he did a good job of hiding it, it was driving him crazy. His sexual tension reached a point where he had trouble sleeping at night, thinking of his time with Mira and due to his increased sexual tension, couldn't help but think of the times he did it with Erza too.
At one point, he observed that when he did it with Mira, it was loving and intense; but with Erza, it was so intense to the point that he didn't hold back all his sexual urges and every time they did it, they were always covered in buckets of sweat and even Natsu passed out from exhaustion sometimes.
Natsu didn't want to show it, but the reason why he spent the whole mission with Team Natsu earlier fucking Erza's brains out in their tent was because they hadn't done it for 4 days prior to their mission since Erza assisted Gildarts on a guild masters' meeting.
But make no mistake, Natsu made it clear that they were just friends with benefits (not lovers), and that he hadn't fully forgiven Erza yet. In his mind, he was just using Erza to satisfy his insatiable sexual urges. The reason for their skinship (holding hands on the way home) lied in their diminished perception of physical boundary with each other. Natsu didn't even notice they were holding hands, while Erza overcame her fear of making Natsu mad and initiated the hand-holding.
Back to the present, Erza said that she will go buy the ingredients for dinner, while Natsu goes on ahead (home).
When he neared his house, he noticed someone familiar waiting in front of his house.
"Erza's mom?" Natsu called out, seeing Irene Belserion in front of his house "Why are you here?" He was wondering what brought her here. Maybe for Erza? But how did she know to go to his house to look for Erza?
"Natsu, just the face I wanted to see. Would you care for a chat?" She called him by his name and waived any honorifics when it occurred to her that Natsu's real age was not that far from her own.
"Uhh, sure? Wanna head inside at least?"
"Lovely, thank you." It was already cold lately, so Irene appreciated Natsu's thoughtfulness.
Once they were inside, Natsu lit up his fireplace and told Irene to sit down while he goes to get them tea (recall that good habits were ingrained into him by Mira).
Once they were both seated, Natsu told Irene that Erza was just getting groceries for dinner, and that Irene was welcome to eat with them. He assumed that Irene was here for Erza.
Even though Natsu and Erza assumed the relationship of friends with benefits, they kept this a secret from everybody, surprisingly by Erza's suggestion. She told him that if Mira ever decides to take him back, it would be catastrophic if she finds out what they've been doing. And the reason why they also kept this from the others is because the more people who knew about this would increase the chances of Mira finding out.
Natsu was touched by this. In his mind, despite pining for him, Erza had the consideration to prioritize his happiness in mind, even if him getting back with Mira would leave her with nothing.
However, in Erza's mind, she wanted to let Natsu know how much she cares for him so he would start to favor her.
Once Natsu came back with Irene's tea (he had juice), Irene thanked him and got straight to her point. Perfect timing, it was better if Erza wasn't around for what she had to say.
"Natsu, could I ask you to stop leading Erza on?" As she said this, Natsu spit out the juice he was drinking, caught off guard by Irene's suddenness.
"What?"
"Please stop entertaining Erza. I don't want you to encourage her unreasonable behavior."
"What are you talking about?" Natsu had a feeling he knew what she meant.
"Your special… relationship with my daughter, I want you to stop." Irene answered bluntly.
"How did you-"
"I've been keeping an eye on Erza from time to time. Please try to understand that as a mother, there are times where I can't help but be curious about my daughter's life." She implied that she witnessed their affair firsthand.
When Irene was miraculously given a second chance at life, she internalized the maternal instincts she awakened near her "death". She felt guilty about what she did to her daughter, a feeling that was fueled even more when she heard about Erza's painful past as an orphan and he experience in the Tower of Heaven. Erza forgave her, but she had a hard time forgiving herself. When she did finally learn to stop beating herself up over her shortcomings as a mother, she decided that in the spirit of moving forward and being stuck in the past, she can be there for her daughter and do her best to make up for lost time with Erza.
At the same time, Irene didn't want to be a clingy parent like Gildarts or one of those helicopter parents. She was content with simply watching Erza enjoy her life, and if necessary, help her when she's down.
The first time Irene witnessed Erza's affair with Natsu was during one of the times Erza went on a "mission" with Natsu. With how long she's lived, there wasn't much else left that would surprise her.
But she felt uncomfortable watching her daughter do this with someone else's partner. As a mother, she felt a sense of disappointment in Erza for doing something this immoral. At the same time, she was also afraid of what would happen to Erza once everybody found out what she's done.
When Mira and Natsu took a break, and she saw Natsu icing Erza out, in a way she was relieved. She was hurt watching her daughter get hurt, but she was also relieved that there was now less of a chance someone would end up finding out about Natsu and Erza.
But when Natsu and Erza resumed their "special friendship", Irene was worried again.
Whenever Natsu and Erza walked back home, Irene would wait for an opportunity to talk to Natsu alone. But how can she when Erza seemingly always wanted-no, needed to sleep with Natsu every day? An opportunity like today was rare, so Irene took it. She was keeping track of where Erza was by sensing her magical signature (something highly educated or the more intelligent mages can do).
So now, Irene was negotiating, almost pleading with Natsu to stop using each other to satisfy their "desires" (Irene didn't really mind the fact that her daughter was already having sex because she grew up in an environment where sex was a more normalized activity, compared to the conservative attitude towards sex in the current era. Besides, she was too old to see sex as an adult activity). She didn't care if Erza will hate her, in her mind, she was only doing what's best for her daughter (from the mindset of a parent).
"So, would you please do me this favor, Natsu-kun?" Irene looked at him expectantly, seeing as how Natsu ran out of words.
"It's not that I can't; I want to, but I think it's better if you say that to Erza yourself."
"I did think about that, but at this point, I believe that Erza would only listen to you." Irene recalled how defensive Erza became when prodded about her relationship with Natsu. During Unbeknownst to everyone, on Master Makarov's birthday, Gildarts pulled Irene somewhere quiet and let her know what Erza's been doing. He didn't think it was necessary at first, but when he witnessed how different Erza became when he confronted her, he relaized that she was
"I guess you're right, but I honestly thought I could help her come to her senses eventually. Thinking about it now, I can't believe how stupid I was at the time."
"You may see it as weakness, but I see what you tried doing for Erza as kindness too. But in the spirit of honesty, as I'm sure you know by now, kindness is rarely the answer."
"Yeah. I see what you mean. I'll end 'this' with Erza - But, can you be there for her afterwards?"
Irene was stunned momentarily. After all Erza's done to him, he was still thinking of Erza's feelings. At that moment, Irene had a glimpse into why her daughter loved Natsu.
Natsu was kind, but he was certainly not weak. He didn't care if he looked or sounded like an idiot, he was gonna say what he wanted to say. And his intentions told Irene that he was a man full of love in his heart, unable to keep petty grudges and prone to his sentiments. Even though he had matured with the passage of time, deep down inside, he still held a child-like innocence that couldn't forget the memories he made with someone else.
Irene thought he was too dumb to keep a grudge for long anyway. She chuckled at this thought.
"Uhhh…" Natsu comically squinted, causing Irene to crack up a bit more at his cute reaction.
The way people laughed when they were around Natsu, Irene wondered what was so funny. But now that she's experienced it herself, she understood. Seriously, how does he do it? He's a natural-born comedian.
"What's so funny?"
"It's nothing. I'll get going now."
When Zeref recruited her into his army, at first Irene was a gloomy person because of what she's been through. But when she was given her own army to command, she eventually realized that the way she acted also affected her army.
In all the wars the Alvarez Empire had through the years, Irene noticed that their army responds well to their perception of a capable leader. She wanted to dispel her division's fears and reassure them that they were in good hands. Out of habit, Irene had it in her mind to be dignified at all times.
So failing to control herself and giving Natsu a weird impression of her was embarassing. So she needed to excuse herself, but not without one last request "And please don't tell Erza I came to you for this."
"No kidding" Natsu expressed.
…
It was a rainy night in Magnolia. The guilds and stores were closing up, and the residents were getting dinner ready.
The cold breeze that came with the rain made the ones still outside, hug their jackets close to them.
The occasional flashes of lightning painted the town white, and the roar of thunder illuminated the otherwise quiet evening.
The pitter-patter sound of the rain hit the windows of Natsu's home, giving the windows a blurry clarity-but it was clear that Natsu and Erza were locked in intense conversation.
With Irene
Irene bought a small house in Magnolia so that she could be closer to Erza. The reason why she didn't just join Fairy Tail is because she felt ashamed of the things she did before, and even though they were the most forgiving and welcoming people she met, (in her mind) she didn't deserve to be their "family" after all she's done. Her feelings of shame and guilt was what stopped her.
In sync with the residents of Magnolia, she also started preparing her dinner.
While waiting for her stew to boil, Irene sat down and continued reading her book, a favorite pastime of hers ever since she was a child. Now that Irene was effectively "retired", with nothing else to do and alone with her thoughts most of the time, she started to realize things about herself.
For one, she realized that she was an introvert. It didn't take a genius to figure out that as a person, she was more on the quiet side. Most people who know about her and come face-to-face with her reserved personality are intimidated at first, but Irene isn't as hostile as the rumors about her would lead people to believe (being known as the Scarlet Despair).
And after years of suppressing her maternal instincts to cope with the guilt of abandoning her daughter, she was finally at peace with herself. Every day felt like a breath of fresh air to her, and her mood was so bright she was happy living a quiet life in Magnolia until she dies (while dragons have a long lifespan, they can die from natural causes too).
She felt happy. She felt like her life finally had a purpose. She felt…content. And to her, that was the greatest type of happiness ever.
Maybe she can plan a vacation trip with her daughter. With that in mind, she wondered if Natsu already broke things off with Erza. It's been 2 days since she spoke to him, and neither he nor Erza has updated her. Maybe she's gonna pay a visit to Natsu again tomorrow and ask him.
As if on cue, she heard a knock at the door.
She couldn't help but put on a small smile when she realized who it was.
She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice Erza's magical signature coming closer to her.
She opened the door for her daughter "Erza?" Irene was surprised by Erza's soul-crushing look.
"Mother, we need to talk."
"I don't know what's wrong, but I'm all ears. First, come in and have a seat. I'll fetch you a cup of tea." Just as she was about to turn around to invite Erza in, Erza chimed in.
"No need for that." Erza's blunt tone stopped Irene in her tracks.
Looking at the frown on Erza's face, Irene asked her, "Erza, seriously what's wrong?"
"I know you spoke to Natsu the other day-"
"How did you-"
"-and I also know what you told him." Erza cut Irene off.
"I see. But please understand, I was only-"
"Looking out for me?" Erza interrupted again, knowing what her mother was thinking. "Even after all you've done, I still let you in my life as my mother, but this is where I draw the line."
"Erza, calm down. Think about it car-"
"I know!" Erza shouted, startling Irene a bit. Despite having a high tolerance for people's strong emotions, she couldn't help but be flustered when her daughter was frustrated at her. After all, she believed that the reason why she was given a second chance at life was for her child's sake. She was honestly scared of losing the pleasant mother-daughter relationship she's worked so hard to build with Erza.
"To be honest, I couldn't believe it when you came back to life. I was even happier when you made the effort to reconnect with me as my mother."
Irene still had a flabbergasted look on her face.
"But I never asked you to do that with Natsu. You may have done it with me in mind, but you ruined my happiness just like that. Because of you, he wants nothing to do with me anymore."
Erza said angrily.
"I know what I did was wrong, I realized that a long time ago. But I already stopped caring about that. All I could do was move forward, because I know that if I looked back, I would just go crazy."
"I won't allow anyone to get in the way of my happiness with Natsu, even if it's my mother."
Irene's eyes widened when she saw Erza's death stare.
"Consider my warning a kindness. Other people weren't so fortunate as to receive a warning at least." Erza said as she left, flashing one last look at Irene to let her know she was leaving, and that she wasn't in the mood for a conversation (where it involves Irene actually being able to talk).
Once Erza left, Irene released the breath she didn't know she was holding.
Erza's stare just then was similar to the ones she gave as The Scarlet Despair, but it surprised her that Erza was able to make it work on her.
Beyond the fact that Erza just did that to her own mother, Irene didn't know she was capable of such… bloodlust?
Irene didn't care how Erza knew about it, she was confident that Natsu kept his promise (of not telling Erza). Erza probably surmised it herself, knowing how smart her daughter was, it was certainly possible.
Sitting down at her couch to compose herself, Irene's recurring somber thought manifested itself more vocally. She used to just have a bad feeling at the back of her mind, but seeing how much worse and different Erza is now, she couldn't deny it anymore.
This won't end well.