AN: I've been tossing around a few ideas in my head lately, and the biggest ten were 'what if' plots for Fairy Tail stories. First, what if Ultear brainwashed Erza instead of Jellal? Second, what if Ultear failed to brainwash Jellal, and the Tower of Heaven Rebellion was successful? Third, what if Siegrain actually was a real person, as many fans have speculated? Fourth, what if Gajeel was the one that heard about the 'Salamander' in Hargeon and went with Juvia to see if it was Metalicana, rather than Natsu and Happy looking for Igneel? Fifth, what if it was Wendy and Carla looking for Grandine? Sixth, what if someone saved Minerva from her father's abuse? Seventh, what if Ultear actually spoke to Ur instead of making assumptions? Eighth, what if Jellal, Erza, and the others never escaped from the Tower at all? Ninth, what if Kagura had been taken to the Tower instead of Erza? Tenth, what if Ultear and Meredy stayed behind to help Fairy Tail fight Acnologia, and nobody broke Jellal out of prison? All of these should make it pretty obvious as to whom my favorite characters to write about are, but I wanted to see what the people who actually read my crap thought. Thus, while I ponder over which of those plot bunnies should become a story once I've finished 'Deicide', I've decided to make a bunch of oneshots of my favorite guild, Crime Sorcière, and all their anti-hero wackiness. Some of these might be connected, but don't assume that they're in chronological order, 'cause they're probably not. Also, I haven't always used the official spelling, but that's what I'm going to do from now on, so 'Meredy' will be 'Merudy', 'Aguria' will be 'Agria', 'Chelia' will be 'Sherria', and so on and so forth. Enjoy!

Story the First: Repercussions

Merudy was a lot of things. She was clever, attractive, witty, talented, a bit of an attention hog (which wasn't a good thing, as she was a fugitive), and occasionally a little goofy. She was also a wanted criminal. Merudy was not, however, stupid. She realized there was something wrong almost right away once the Grand Magic Games were over, but it took her a long time to figure out what. Ultear, however, figured it out much sooner.

"You're mad at me," she stated, after her surrogate daughter had gone to sleep. Her teammate, friend, and former pawn exhaled through his nose as he poked the fire with a stick. "I know you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jellal told her, proving once again that he was one of the worst liars on the face of the planet. Ultear rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Look, Merudy's asleep, so if this is about us interfering with your match against Jura, go ahead and complain." She said. Jellal didn't respond. Ultear took a deep breath and tried again. "Look, you were going to give yourself away! We did what we had to!"

"No, you didn't," Jellal said finally. "There was no need for you to have Merudy use her Sensory Link. It was embarrassing, both to me and to Fairy Tail, and it was unnecessary."

"How was it unnecessary?" Ultear demanded. "How else were we supposed to stop you from blowing your own cover?"

"I don't know, maybe you could have used telepathy!" Jellal snapped, finally raising his voice. He was angry, but not angry enough to wake up Merudy. "We've used it before, back when we were evil Zeref-worshipping monsters. Who knows, maybe I'm angry because the last time you took control of my actions, I killed someone." Ultear flinched at the reminder of Simon's untimely death.

"It didn't occur to me," she admitted. Jellal let out an uncharacteristic snort.

"Oh, wonderful," he said sarcastically. "I feel so relaxed around a teammate whose first solution involves taking control of my body."

"I'm sorry," Ultear said quietly. "I didn't think–"

"No, you didn't think." Jellal agreed. "I thought we were friends, Ultear." If the mention of Simon hadn't stung, then that comment certainly did.

"Sorry," she repeated, unsure of what else to say. Jellal didn't respond. "Ok, how can I make it up to you?" He let out an annoyed huff. "Jellal, I'm not a mind reader. I didn't realize you'd be so affected by–"

"'So affected by'?" Jellal cut her off again. "You're making this sound like it's my fault now." Ultear glowered at him.

"I am not!" she protested.

"Yes, you are!" Jellal snapped. "I spent eight years of my life under your thumb, doing nothing but fucking things up for Erza, and just when I finally managed to forgive you, you go and make me fuck things up for her again."

"Since when do you swear?" the raven-haired woman asked.

"Since when does it matter?" he replied coolly. Ultear sighed.

"What do I have to do?" she asked. Jellal blinked.

"Sorry?" he asked.

"What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?" she clarified. Jellal rolled his eyes and lay down, facing away from his teammate.

"Turn back time or something," he responded dully. Ultear decided to leave her teammate be, hoping that she'd have more luck once the Games had ended.

Six days later, Jellal Fernandes truly came to regret his words.