Note: This is the end! Thanks so much for reading!

Erza opened the lid of the first Thursday compartment. She swallowed her pills with exactly eight ounces of water and crushed the plastic water bottle before tossing it into the blue recycle bin. Her books were lined up on the table in the order she'd need them. It wasn't exactly convenient for her to return to her room after every class but Erza needed to do it. The last month had been more difficult than most and remembering to do really important things escaped her at least once a week. Kagura had helped her cultivate a schedule that mostly catered to her specific needs.

One of the first lessons Erza had learned was that she needed help. She couldn't tough it out and do everything on her own like she wanted. Her life was a complex maze of strings attached to pins and every single pin was necessary.

She jumped when her phone alarm blared. Erza slid the first book, a binder of paper, a bag of writing utensils, and a hardcopy list of her schedule into her bag. On her way out the door she grabbed her phone and silenced the alarm. As always, the text in all capital letters read, BE BRAVE!

'I'll wait for you in the beer garden.' Erza checked Kagura's text for the third time and tugged the sleeves of her sweater down over her palms. She watched the crowd across the street mill and churn.

"You can do this," Erza whispered to herself. "It's just a tiny festival. You can walk in a big circle, look at the art, and then leave."

A couple nudged by her and Erza quickly stepped to the side muttering her apologies for being in the way. Maybe she should just leave now. Maybe… her phone vibrated again.

'Don't you dare bail, Erza. I can feel you over thinking it. Come meet me in the garden.'

"Right," she muttered. "I'm over thinking. Of course. This is fine." Erza stepped off the curb and crossed the street. She knew the beer garden was on the other side of the park but didn't make a bee-line. She wandered through and around the displays just to see if she could be comfortable alone and in a crowd.

'Did you get lost?' Kagura's next message drew a smile.

'No, I'm just trying to take everything in.'

'I'll come find you then. Where are you?'

'I'm close to this big display of painted barrels.'

'Gotcha.'

Erza slid her phone back into her pocket and eased around the awkwardly stacked barrels. She wasn't much into art and most of it felt beyond her comprehension. Kagura's head of black hair came into view and Erza waved. Her anxiety calmed and as breathed in a lungful of the early spring chill, she spun around. The view behind her tripped her heart over itself.

He wore a faded black hoodie under another canvas-type jacket. In front of him was a little girl holding out a ragged handful of gerbera daisies. With a smile, he took the flowers in exchange for a sheet of sketch paper covered in protection tissue. He suddenly stood and turned. Erza fidgeted when his eyes found her. She wasn't sure if she should approach him or if she should let him decide if he wanted to see her. The crooked smile that crept across his face said enough.

"It's been a minute, red." His voice felt different out in the open air. He looked different. Less sad. Less caged.

"It's been several minutes," she said softly, approaching his table. "I didn't realize you'd be here."

"Would you still've come if you'd known?"

Erza smiled and glanced over the pages of sketch paper and charcoal renderings. "I'd like to think so." She focused on one drawing of a braid of hair. The woven strands were incredibly detailed. "You've improved, I think."

"I've been focusing on it more." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "There's some images I can't really get out of my head."

Erza's cheeks warmed and she changed the subject. "Did you get your old job back?"

"I did! I completed the certification so it's all above board."

"Are you happy?"

"I'm working on it." He hadn't stopped smiling since he'd spotted her. "What about you?"

"I started school again last August. It's a slower track but I think that's important for me right now." Erza tucked a strand of her hair behind one ear and tried to fight off her embarrassed blush. "I don't take enough classes to have a dorm so I rented a room nearby."

"And you feel safe there and all that?"

"I do. The lady who owns the house used to work with my mom so I think that helped her come around to the idea of me living on my own."

"I'm happy for you, red."

"Uh, I'm sorry for not calling you."

"Don't apologize. Things happen." A light breeze ruffled the budding branches of trees overhead and she watched his eyes follow the strands of her hair that were caught up in it. Erza decided she felt brave.

"Maybe if you're not too busy sometime we could..." Erza trailed off and floundered. "I mean, I was just wondering if you wanted to talk or… something?"

"Anything at all, red. I'm wide open."

"Great!" The word bubbled up and came out faster than she could temper the excitement in it. "Uh," Erza glanced back over her shoulder and saw Kagura watching her beside the barrels. "I should go, though. I came with a friend."

Jellal nodded and reached behind his card table and into a crate of sheathed sketches. He pulled the pencil from behind his ear and wrote out his phone number on the corner of the tissue paper.

"I want you to have this one." He handed her the sketch and Erza held it against her chest. "Don't loose my number this time, red. I don't know if I can get so lucky twice."

"I promise I won't lose it." She felt her face heating again and turned to go. "It was good to see you, Jellal."

"I hope it won't be the last time."

"I don't think it will." Erza felt his eyes on her until she and Kagura moved deeper into the park.

The page protected by tissue paper Jellal had given her was so much more than just a sketch. He'd drawn the curve of her neck perfectly right down to the fine lines of the scars that she could still see if she really tried. Her hair hung over her shoulder and on the very edge of her hairline she could make out a patch of shorter hairs just long enough to poke through the longer strands. The way her head turned toward him cast a shadow on her neck. Erza thought maybe he'd dragged an image of her from his memories of their moments in the shaded courtyard. Those shadows had always crawled across her shoulders and lap in this exact way.

She reached for her phone.

'Your work is beautiful.'

'Thanks, red.'

'I'm sorry for losing your number. It wasn't on purpose.'

'I know.'

Erza chewed her lip and decided to be brave.

'Are you busy?'

'Nope.'

'Come see me?'

She sent her address and frantically tidied her small space – even though it was already in a near-immaculate state. Erza never had visitors other than Eileen or Kagura but she couldn't stand clutter. She circled all her furniture and fluffed pillows until he knocked on the door.

Like a good hostess, Erza took his coat and hung it beside hers on the door. There was a moment of awkward silence before she gave into the impulse to snake her arms around his waist and press her body against his. Jellal was warm and smelled like cigarettes and something sweet she couldn't name. She almost sighed when his fingers found their home in her hair.

"I missed you, red," he whispered. "I wanted to find you but I wasn't really –"

"I wasn't ready for you to find me until I saw you in the park," she interrupted softly. "I had some things I needed to accomplish before I could even try to look."

"I told you it would be alright."

Erza pulled away and swallowed the lump in her throat she didn't want to be there. "You did."

She pulled him further into her small living space and offered him cookies and tea before she found him directly behind her. The relief of not having to pursue him was like the first blast of Autumn chill after a sticky summer. He kissed her and all her pretenses fizzled.

Erza didn't want to serve him cookies and tea. She wanted his hands on her body. She wanted his charcoal stained fingertips sifting through her hair. And she wanted him to stay.

In the low light of her bedroom she decided her sheets looked good on him. The experience of having him in her own bed with no worries of being found and reprimanded was new and exciting. His colors were no longer bleeding and over saturated nor were they the broken flat grey she hated. Erza decided her favorite color was the purple somewhere between red and blue.