After a perilous journey on foot through the forest, Erza....was finally [url=http://www.cuded.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/margam-castle600_398.jpg]home.[/url] She crept towards the large wooden doors of the foreboding manor obscured in a thick, mesmerizing mist and threw them open as lightning illuminated the area for only a few stray seconds, thunder rattling the empty halls. Erza sauntered into the cold and lonesome manor that was once her home. How long had she been gone, she pondered strolling through the atrium, the lighting outside dancing across the large crystalline windows and giving the paintings that adorned the walls a ghostly glimmer of pale, flickering light. It seemed as if she were lost in the chasm of Hell for ages, but upon seeing the unmarred state of her lavish abode, it remained not a victim of time's graceful passage, so in theory....she was only dead for a few days, maybe hours. How good it felt to be home once again, out of the rain.....but her manor....it was as empty as her very heart. Bartleby, either he too was struck down by Galard's loathsome mercenary, or the coward fled with his tail between his legs, much the latter was to Erza's chagrin. As she tarried further onwards, something caught her by the ear....footsteps, the very same she heard while she struggled through the muddy forest, but dared not to look back as reaching home was her current goal in mind. Hastily the woman whirled around, drawing fiercely the still-bloodied blade of Aquilus towards her new assailant.....but upon seeing a familiar face, a young, beautiful face with such delicate features, such captivating eyes that stared into the deep red of Erza's....the woman lowered her sword and released it from her hand, falling to the ground with a clink as she whispered a name, "......Theodora...." Erza fell to her knees before the girl in disbelief, clasping her hands upon the soft shoulders of the girl....the very girl who enslaved her heart with but a passing glance. "My dearest......could it possibly be you? How did you.....? Were you the one following me?"