Erza's P.O.V.

I waited for an answer.

I waited so long.

I had gotten up and opened the window, causing a tremendous gush of air to blow through me- nearly knocking me to the floor.  I clung onto the siding firmly, and forced myself to look outside.

I looked to the right.

I looked to the left.

Nothing was there.

I looked down.

I looked up.

Still, nothing.

Had I imagined it? Had I missed him so much that my mind needed to believe he truly spoke to me? Water droplets attacked my skin with a refreshing quality to them. I sighed, forcefully closing the window shut against the wind.

CRACK!

A surge of lighting branched across the sky, illuminating the eerie clouds with a sunshine-like glow. It's beauty lasted only for a second, before fading back into the foreboding darkness.

'Erza...'

A voice called from directly behind me. A sound so close I could feel it's breath against my ear.

I spun around immediately, knowing who called me. The unmistakable voice that's always been with me- the voice that's always given me courage when I was afraid. It was him.

But no one was there.

Why was no one there? I heard him. I had not only heard him, but I had felt him.

Was I going insane? Had the lack of sleep finally bitten into my mental being? 

"Jellal?" I asked aloud. 

CRACK!

Another flash of lightening sizzled through the sky, now shining light into the shadows of my room.

I looked around the room, pacing about as I did so.

I peeked under the bed, finding no one.

I searched my only closet, and even the bathroom connected to my room.

I suspiciously looked at the bathtub, where a shower curtain was drawn to hide it completely. Had I closed it when I took a bath this morning?

No. I didn't.

Because when I was leaving the water, I would've had to push it back to get out.

I walked closer slowly.

As quiet as a mouse, my feet graced the tile flooring. 

Inch by inch, the curtain grew closer.

Was this all in my head?

Was I being over-dramatic?

The shower now seemed to tower over me in size, looking down on me.

I raised my hand hesitantly, telling myself no one was going to be there.

But maybe someone was.

I felt my heart rate quicken as my finger tips approached the plastic layer between me and whatever was behind it.

I forced myself to get a hold of the curtain.

Come'on Scarlet. 

It's just a bathtub. 

What are you afraid of?

What's in it.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself.

Without anymore delay, I swiftly pushed it open.

CRACK!

Lightening shot, causing me to flinch. 

Just as I had originally suspected, nothing was there.

'ERZA!' The voice screamed at me, causing me to jump entirely. A state of shock rushed through my body, refusing to dull or weaken the moment.

Jellal's voice, full of agony, rang into my eardrums like a torturous melody. 

I had to find him.

I didn't have time to be weak anymore.

I ran for the door to my room and shook the handle. Just as it always was. Locked.

They refused to let me out of this hell-hole of a room? Very well. I'll leave on my own will if I must.

"Requipt!" I called, a pink circle blinking and fading into view. It was diluted and frail, hardly withstanding the pressure of being created. I felt my very being begging me to stop- begging me to eat or rest before asking any more of it.

'ERZA PLEASE- E-ERZA HELP!' His voice screeched into me. He spoke so quickly, but there was no speed on the amount of torment in his voice. 

I pushed myself further, causing a small lock pick to fall into hand.

I jammed it into the lock and began fumbling around it with my shaking fingers.

After awhile, a 'click' sounded and the handle was unlocked. I opened the door without thinking, and was met by the eyes of an attending nurse. The exact same one from earlier.

"Ms. Scarlet?" She asked, her hands freezing while holding onto her paperwork.

I stared blankly at her.

She stared blankly at me.

"I'm going to have to ask you to please return to your room-" I bolted away without looking back, "MS. SCARLET!"

I heard her footsteps chasing after me, but I ran faster.

"This is Nurse Miyuki- We have an escaped intensive care unit patient running around the hospital, I repeat, we have an escaped I.C.U..." I heard her speak into her communications device until I ran out of earshot of her.

'ERZA! Oh God- I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE- P-PLEASE!' He screamed, his voice raising and cracking. The scream was louder. I heard every fiber of his trauma become embedded  into my mind.

Did this mean I was getting closer?

I sprinted into a stairwell, my bare feet growing cold against the stair's cement. I paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to find Jellal. I didn't know anything about this hospital, let alone where it kept patients like Jellal.

The ICU is usually the most extreme place for a patient to go, so why wasn't Jellal in that ward?

There's no way he could've been healed.... And his voice, his telepathy...

I heard a door slam open a few levels below me, and multiple sets of feet were hitting the ground.

"ICU patient, possibly delusional, going through sleep deprivation-"

"-traumatic symptoms such as shaking, hallucinations, anxiety-"

"-running towards the south wing, most likely searching for the exit."

Three voices said as they ran up the stairs. They were all talking over each other, in a rush to find the escapee they were looking for.

Me.

I stopped standing still and began to leap up the stairs in sets of twos. I made sure to land as carefully as I could, so not to create any sound. 

They think I'm headed towards the exit? Excellent.

Because I'm headed in the exact opposite direction.

Turn after turn, staircase after staircase, I eventually made it to the end. I must've climbed over fifteen levels. I paused at the top, my stomach growling in disagreement with me. I'd been refusing to eat, I had no energy to burn.

Yet here I was, sprinting up stairs.

I caught my breath-

'PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!! PLE-E-EASE LET IT BE OVER!' His voice was so loud now, etching itself into my brain like a knife. It was so sharp- so painful- so anguished, that I knew he was closer than ever.

I forced myself onward, opening the door to the...

I looked at the sign above the door.

...30th level.

Walking in, I found a quiet hallway which was well lit and had peaceful music playing. Glass hospital rooms lined the walls, curtains shielding the patients from the outside scenery. Yellow paint with baby blue patterns were splashed over the walls, creating a calming effect. It was enjoyable up here, unlike anything I had experienced in the lower levels.

Where am I?

I walked around, passing covered windows and numbered rooms. I looked for any sort of sign that would tell me where I was.

Just my luck, I found a hospital map encased for display in a matter of minutes. Looking at it, I found a stamped-on red star that read 'You're Here!'. Reading the words next to that misleading excited phrase, I found myself grow numb.

Transplant Donor Surgery Ward

That's why it was so quiet. All the patients in this ward were either dead or sedated.

Jellal was screaming in his messages to me-

Oh no.

Was Jellal in surgery? 

He has to be alive to send me messages- And he would never donate his organs given the condition he was in. 

What the hell is going on here?

I looked at the map once again, locating the operating rooms of the ward. After finding them, I turned and began running again.

Before I knew it, I crashed into someone.

They smelt familiar, and their body felt the same way to me.

"Erza? Aren't you not allowed to leave your room?" Gray's voice asked calmly, holding my shoulders to steady me.

"There's no time to explain- we have to go!" I stated, pushing off of him only to run into Natsu and Lucy.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good," Natsu asked casually as I brushed past him.

"Erza! Where are you going?" Lucy called after me as I began running towards my target.

"Follow me!" I responded, my voice cracking.

"Wait up!" Gray shouted, causing me to turn around and face him.

Tears lined my eyes, ready to pour out at any moment. Like a glass filled to the rim, one drop could make me break my hold.

They all stood still, shocked at my emotion, "Please," my voice wavering as I spoke, decreasing to a whisper, "We have to go,"

I took a few steps backwards, before turning in the other direction and running again.

I heard them follow behind me, and I knew I wasn't alone in this.

I'm coming to save you, Jellal.

I made it to the end of the corridor, and made a sharp right into the next. The hallways seemed to grow smaller as I ran, almost as if they were challenging me to run faster.

'ERZA!!' He shrieked painfully. I made it to the end of the hall, to the double-doored entrance of the operating room. I nearly knocked the doors off their hinges as I flew past them, and then the next.

A doctor gasped, registering someone unclean had just entered the room.

"GET OUT! IT'S NOT SAFE!" He shouted, but I was so riled up at this point I didn't have any more patience to give.

I promptly landed a blow to his head, knocking him out in one clean hit.

I burst into the operating room, only to find three surgeons practically dissecting their patient,

Jellal Fernandes.

'KILL ME- FOR THE LOVE OF GOD- KILL ME!' 

His screaming was so loud, I clutched my ears and stumbled to regain stance. Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy burst into the room, gasping for breath.

"What the hell is going on here?" A surgeon asked through their mask.

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" I screamed at them, pointing to the unconscious body.

"You're right. But he's in a coma, and it's not likely he'll ever wake up again. We have patients in and out of here all the time who could use his organs better than he ever will again," Another surgeon replied.

"Who gave you permission to do this?" I asked, rage igniting in my eyes.

"No one. As far as we can tell, this guy has no family. What's it to you? And why the hell are you in my operating room?" The third surgeon asked.

"I'm his wife!" I shouted at them. It was the first thing I thought of, and I flushed at the comment. The rest of team Natsu was equally as shocked as the surgeons. 

"Oh-Oh my god," The third surgeon stuttered, "I am s-so sorry."

"So you're tellin' me they cut up Jellal for no good reason and they think they can fix it with 'sorry'?" Gray asked, cracking his knuckles as an icy mist formed around him.

"TRY AGAIN!" Natsu growled, running up to one of the surgeons and punching them in the face with a fiery fist. The surgeon immediately fell towards the ground, but before they could reach it, Natsu kicked him in the gut- 

sending him flying into the brick wall.

"Natsu wait," I said, unable to summon any weapons of my own, "As much as I'd like to see them pay for what they've done, they're the only ones here who can fix what they've started."

The other two surgeons seemed to relax a bit, knowing they were valuable in this situation.

I shot a glare at them, "GET TO WORK!"

"Yes 'Mam!" They whimpered, hurrying to repair what they damaged. 

Two organs were already out, what seemed to be his kidney and his liver.

"When was that removed?" I asked, pointing to his very vital liver.

"Just before you came in, 'Mam!" One of them pleaded.

"Then you better hurry up," I said grimly, looking them in the eyes with a cold, unforgiving stare, "And it better be your best work, understand?"

"Work as if your lives depended on it," Natsu deviously stated, motioning towards his still-ignited hands, "Because no one gets away with injuring a friend of Fairy Tail."

They started working quickly and efficiently, putting effort and care into each of their movements. After all, one dysfunction and I'd have this hospital's reputation ruined after what they did.

I paced over to Jellal's face, which was covered in sweat as his body fought to register the pain. His breathing was quick and raspy. His face was twisted in affliction. 

"Here," Lucy said as she sympathetically pulled up a stool for me to sit on.

"Thank you, Lucy," I replied tiredly, taking a seat and looking at Jellal's pained expression. "You didn't even sedate him, did you? Assuming he was in a coma- you just went right at him like vultures, didn't you?" I asked, turning to the surgeons once again.

"If you'd like we could go get a sedative right no-" One of them replied, putting down his utensils and running for the exit.

"Don't even think about it, doc," Gray said as he and Natsu blocked the door. 

"Do you think we're stupid?" Natsu asked him before giving him a light shove.

"One word of this mishap gets out and we all go under, isn't that right?" I told more than questioned him, "I'll handle the sedation. You get back to work."

The surgeon resumed his position alongside the other and did as he was told.

"Erza, how do you plan to sedate Jellal?" Lucy inquired,

"Jellal and I have always had a telepathic connection... We've always been able to send and receive speech from one another. But just recently, we've been able to recreate images and dreams in each other's minds. It uses a lot of magic power... So I'll have to try my hardest to pull it off."

"Do you think you can handle it?" Gray asked as he tensed up, concerned.

"You kiddin' me? This is Erza we're talking about," Natsu smiled, belief in every aspect of his visage. 

"For once, you're right," Gray agreed, relaxing his muscles, "Erza can handle anything."

"Whaddya mean 'for once?'" Natsu growled at Gray,

"Exactly what I said! Intelligence isn't exactly your thing, flame breath!"

"You better watch yourself, pervert! Where'd you leave your pants this time, anyways?"

Gray looked down, realized he was only wearing his boxers, then shot a look back up at Natsu,

"Yea, well at least I'm not a crazy flame spewer like you!"

Lucy sighed out of both embarrassment and frustration, "What am I gonna do with you both?"

"Lucy," I called, getting her attention and speaking to her as the boys fought, "Make sure these surgeons fix up Jellal perfectly. While using the amount of energy I have to; I don't think I'll be able to remain conscious. I'm trusting you to make sure nothing goes wrong. Can you do that?"

"Of course, anything for you, Erza," She smiled reassuringly back at me.

"Thank you. I knew I could trust you," I told her as I began to brush Jellal's silky blue hair away from his face. I rested both of my hands on either sides of his face, and closed my eyes.

No more pain, Jellal.

Time to dream of a place far away from here.

I accessed the remaining amount of ethernano in my body, and extracted as much as I could naturally from my surroundings. It wasn't very much, but it was enough to dull the pain.

I began thinking of a dream, and the surroundings I would create for us.

Once I had an image, I smiled warmly and let it become it's own reality.

Before I drifted off into my dream, I made sure to project it to Jellal as well.

I waited for him to respond to the images, recognize me, and accept my mind into his.

Once he did, our dream together began.