sets in the enigma 'post-tartarus pre-avatar' timeframe. jerza going on a mission tgt, he was gonna give her the blanket and stay up, she said 'come sit here by the fire together, its warmer this way isnt it ?' and smiles
yes this is my way of saying we need more post tartarus jerza moments
Jerza Headcanons: Tower of Zeref Era (and some beyond)
To get myself back into the mood of writing to continue the next upcoming arc of my Jellal-centric series, here is a small collection of Jerza headcanons mainly based on their time at the Tower of Zeref and how it shaped their bond.
📌 Note: The reason I call the Tower of Heaven the Tower of Zeref when they are children is because
1. I have a headcanon surrounding this, and
2. It makes it easier for me to refer to the individual arcs.
The headcanons written below are drawn from my writing timeline (mainly AU). While not fully canon-compliant, they stay close where possible — especially in the emotional and narrative gaps the series left open.
So without further ado,
Here is some headcanons born from writer’s block and Jerza brain rot 🤍
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❤️ Soft/Wholesome HCs: ❤️
🍰 “Bittersweet Beginnings”
Jellal doesn’t have a sweet tooth.
Whether due to his upbringing as a slave or simply due to lack of exposure, his palate just never developed a taste for desserts.
When Erza learns this, she makes it her mission to introduce him to the world of sweets!
She wants to start with strawberry (her favourite of course), but ends up giving him something simple like a blueberry tart or a vanilla cream puff to start with—so he isn’t overwhelmed when he eventually has that oh so yummy strawberry goodness!
-
💍 “When we leave the tower, do you want to get married?”
We all know that Erza has the strong desire to get married and be a bride, but let’s wonder for a bit where it could have come from?
In this HC, as children, Jellal was the one to naively ask Erza the question, not understanding the full implications at all.
He was raised in a system—traditional and all, that taught early marriage as a way to keep the people you love. When he asked her the question, he asked with the hope that to keep their bond/their friendship close and forever, and Erza has cherished those words ever since.
-
🐈 “Kitty Cat”
Jellal and Erza made the plan to adopt a cat as children, one of the dreams to look forward to when they would leave the tower. One because Jellal had been very close to cats whilst growing up, two because Erza hadn’t really ever known cats well and Milliana’s interest in them got her curious too.
However, when trying to think of names of their imagined eventual cat, Jellal (god bless him), kept thinking of the most basic names. Trying to name the cat after it’s appearance. “Stripe.” “Darkie.” “Spots.”
It became clear to Erza that naming things by their appearance is a pattern to him (Autistic coded Jellal much-) and his silliness made her laugh.
She found out that he already did the same for his previous cat friends from his home country. (Hazel, Domino, Cocoa…)
For everyone’s sake and their future cat, Erza proposed that she would name the cat, since Jellal already gave her a name.
As we all know, something kids love doing is playing house.
Their friend group was not the exception.
The roles were assigned between them; Sho and Wally the brothers, Milliana the little sister, Simon the older brother.
With that logic Jellal and Erza should have also fallen into the protective older siblings bracket but…
…With how Jellal was pretty much the breadwinner of the group (taking extra duties of the tower/the jobs of the younger ones because he was more capable) and then Erza was the one who they all looked up to for comfort whilst also having a not so subtle dynamic with Jellal…Someone (Milliana) made the comment about how Jellal and Erza were like the mommy and daddy of the group and it stuck since.
Btw Simon hated this.
Jellal and Erza would get flustered and deny it, but the label stuck and made the others happy so they don't fight it as much after. Because if they didn’t have their own family now, making one with them wasn’t too bad.
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📖 “Teacher Jellal”
As Jellal was basically the unofficial leader/dad of the group, he didn’t just fulfil duties related to the tower, but also to help the others get their mind off the doom and gloom around them.
He would do things like teaching them games he knew from his childhood (e.g Xs and Os which they could play in the dirt, stone throw etc) and even go as far as teaching them some basic functioning skills.
Jellal wasn’t fully literate by any means, but he was the strongest out of them with a natural desire to learn and practice. A scholar (or nerd) at heart, and this would show by teaching the youngsters how to do small things like reading, writing their names in the dirt (even if badly) and even doing things like small drawings and making stories together to distract from the torment of their lives.
-
🥘 “Imagine something really cool to eat”
It’s no mystery that the slaves of the tower would go hungry, and the bare rations they were given were probably either stale, bland or eaten up in a blink of an eye. When the hunger pangs and cruelty heightened, the kids would imagine foods together.
Didn’t matter if it was real or not, they just had to imagine something they wanted to eat. Asking themselves “if I could have anything right now, what would it be?”
It was a bittersweet dream, however it gave them some hope and something else to focus on other than the pain even though it only cased the pain in something sweeter.
-
♥️ “Giving back”
Since Jellal was the usual breadwinner between their group, this meant he was also usually the latest to arrive from his duties.
Rations would be given out and he would be lucky to just about get some or have his food lukewarm.
The others would be starving and grateful for Jellal’s extra efforts, but Erza’s heart sank a bit each time they would dine, and a space remained unfilled beside them.
At some point Erza made it her initiative to wait for Jellal to come back before eating, to which the boy was surprised and hesitant about.
Because all he was doing was so they would eat well.
But to her, what did it mean to eat well if they couldn’t do it with him?
Jellal didn’t let it happen all the time, but for the moments he allowed himself to not be the ‘dad’/’teacher’/’leader’ and just was Jellal, he sat with Erza and ate slowly.
Sometimes she would even feed him because he would be too weak and tired, for which he would be ever grateful for.
But of course he couldn’t relax for too long and would give back by feeding her lovingly.
Even if his fingers shook, he would lift the rusted spoon filled with whatever watered down meal that had been earned for the day and held her chin as he took care of her too.
-
🩹 “Stretched too thin”
For all that Jellal would take on, eventually he would reach his limit. He didn’t get sick often, but when he did, it was alarming.
He didn’t want to stress the others about him, for which he would make the note to be quieter and more distant about his suffering.
Erza of course, noticed. And when she would ask, he would lie through his teeth and his ears would flush.
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
He would try and convince her with that same toothy grin and those kind eyes, yet she’d see his skin paling and sweat blistering on his forehead and wouldn’t take the bait.
Even if he didn’t want her to, and even if the others and Grandpa Rob warned her against it, Erza would stay up all night beside him, wiping his sweat and talking to him to keep him grounded.
Staying there with him, because she couldn’t help but worry that one minute he could be there, but what if the next…he wasn’t?
It wasn’t uncommon for people to die as slaves. Excessive labour was the main cause. Sickness and infection was the next. Then followed by accidents.
And with Jellal facing two of those three risks, she didn’t want to take her chances and be obedient.
She let herself be selfish with him, because there was no guarantee there would be the chance the next morning.
-
👥 “So you’re still there”
Though Erza would become especially attentive when Jellal was asleep, even in normal moments there was a sense of intimacy threaded between them.
Though this was more of a group thing, before they would sleep: Erza and Jellal would flank the youngsters from the side and go to sleep cuddling them, whilst possibly holding hands.
This was sometimes just to preserve warmth when the tower got more chilly and the stone beneath got too cool. Or sometimes it was just to make sure the other was still there— alive and breathing the next day.
-
🌒 “It gets to him too”
Erza has never seen Jellal cry, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen him feel.
That doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen it get to him.
The horror. The darkness. The screams.
He won’t show it when he’s awake, but at the beginning she caught him shaking and sweating through his nightmares. Whispering to himself in his sleep, afraid to break into a scream or a cry, she’d never know.
His voice wouldn’t leave his throat even then.
But what she did see told her enough.
She saw him unsettled.
Twisting and turning. Face scrunching. Head shaking.
And that’s when she would hold him.
Trying to ground him back to earth. Away from what haunted him. Unknown if it was because of the tower or before it.
And when he would stop moving.
And when he would awake.
The first thing he would see after the darkness,
Was her face.
-
🌌 “Watch the stars with me”
If they weren’t playing games or doing some learning or going wild with their imagination, Jellal would find himself lying down beneath the stars on the sand of the island.
In the brief breaks he would be allowed, he would just detach and look at the stars like they were a form of guidance/hope.
Erza one day caught him and lay down beside him, watching the stars and asking him what he saw in them.
He told her about the significance of stars, both what he learned from his culture and general worldly relevance (ie. constellations) and she would just listen to him like he was telling her the world until they would be stolen away from their retreat, and forced back to live reality again.
-
👤 “He who never tells”
Despite the little tidbits that Jellal would allow of his past, he never would tell the full story.
Erza and the others would try and press him, but Jellal? He just didn’t ever want to say.
No one knew what the boy with the tattoo held behind the shining smile, and if they did they’d be astonished as to how he could even do so.
But, even if Jellal didn’t tell about himself, he always wanted to hear about others. Especially Erza.
And he found comfort in hearing her story.
But he wouldn’t tell her that.
As he didn’t want her to know he felt less alone since they both never had a place in the world.
Yet.
Despite the truth being so cruel, something about it made him feel closer to her than anyone else.
💔 Darker/Trauma-Rooted & NSFW-Adjacent HCs: 💔
(CW: self hatred/self harm, exploitation themes etc - if uncomfortable please skip to next section)
🪞 “You made me love it”
No one knows about Jellal’s past, because it’s something he doesn’t want to bring into the future.
Unlike many, he didn’t grow up in the luxury of acceptance and safety. He was born into a world that hated him for none other than the blood that ran through his veins.
That manifested as a hatred for himself — from his face, too similar to his. To the brand seared onto his skin, a permanent reminder of holding sin which was never his own and that which stained him and his mother alike. And even his hair.
Blue. Unnatural. Unruly.
Just like his too.
Jellal didn’t break in front of people and no one knew what was going through his head when he first arrived at the tower.
The fact he had been delivered from one hell to the next.
But no matter how hard he tried to bury it, at some point he just couldn’t.
And he spiralled.
Ready to cut into the mark that made him an outlier, that rotted his blood and made him unworthy.
He took a jagged piece of metal, pocketed it and left the company of the others who were making friends with each other, soon to have their first meals being served.
Erza noticed his absence from the group and followed him so he could eat with the rest.
She called his name and he turned around. And she was completely unaware of what he was about to do.
Jellal was still in mental anguish, barely hidden by his sudden attempt of composure, but Erza could tell something had gone off.
Was it because everyone was asking about his tattoo? The remarks “mr.tattoo?” or that “no one had seen anything like it.”
She hadn’t really thought of what she was going to say when she found him, but it came out on it’s own.
“I think it looks cool.”
“Your tattoo.”
About his greatest insecurity.
The most glaring one.
He didn’t believe it at first. Just thought she was saying it to be nice because who would love something as ugly as this? But something about her soft big brown eyes, and calm smile disarmed him.
And his heart was feeling calm again.
Eventually, when he followed her and his head was in a better place, he told her bashfully.
“You didn’t need to say that.”
But she was like why not? He made her appreciate a part of herself, so why can’t she do the same?
Then she added,
“Your hair is really pretty too.”
“Blue, like the sky.”
“It makes me happy to look at.”
And for once,
Jellal smiled in regards to his appearance.
-
🪽 “Innocence bartered”
Erza had been watching Jellal day in and day out take on most of the load for their group.
It was admirable.
But the question never stopped bothering her.
How much could one person take?
How much could one boy take?
He was getting weaker too some days. More prone to illness.
He would finish one shift just to start another so they were better off than always starving.
So she took matters into her own hands.
Asking for extra work from the slavers most likely wouldn’t go down well, Grandpa Rob would be against it, and then Jellal? He wouldn’t be so pleased either.
There were older slaves who made a request of if they could have her ‘assistance’ with things and then they would give some of their rations to her for her friends.
Unknown to her, what was being asked of was something more violating than what any slave work had been.
Erza was a pretty girl and many knew that.
Many eyes watched her. And sadly, not all those eyes had the best intent.
She was about to go with them, innocently obeying the instructions she was given. A time was set, a location made.
But someone noticed she had strayed from the group.
Jellal.
And before she could trap herself into the devil’s deal, he had somehow found out and taken her away, visibly shaking as he led her with an iron grip, barely able to get out a word.
Erza didn’t understand why he was so angry, but when he turned around and faced her his eyes were wild.
Glazed in tears that still didn’t fall. His usually soft voice roughened in something beyond her understanding.
“Don’t ever do that again Erza!”
“You don’t know what was going to happen.”
For the first time he actually scolded her and she was confused.
She had just wanted to help get the load off his back. She tried to argue and make him see sense.
But then he held her, buried his weary and bony face in her neck whilst he held her, tighter than any time before, like he was afraid. Afraid of letting go. Afraid something coming between them if he let go.
And he begged.
“Please.”
“Just don’t.”
“P-Please Erza.”
And she listened.
He wouldn’t say anything more. Just begged. Repeating the same pleas over and over almost like a desperate prayer.
And she listened.
She didn’t know why she listened though.
He hadn’t told her anything, and it was clear he knew something she should have. It wasn’t normal for him to act like that either.
Everything was burning for her to challenge. To question. To know why.
But she listened.
And she didn’t know why.
Maybe it was the wobble hidden in his whisper. Maybe it was how his hands held her in desperation. In care. In fear. Maybe it’s because her heart hurt in a way she didn’t expect.
Whatever it was, she listened.
She didn’t understand what made him so angry or afraid. She wouldn’t for a very long time.
But even so,
Feeling him shaken to the core, and the freezing sweat from his body and his unseen tears wash her skin,
It made her stay.
It made her listen.
-
(To offload from the darkness of this section, I'm going to include a funny HC I have here too.)
-
💢 “Boyhood embarrassments”
It was bound to happen eventually.
He was going into what, 11-12? And yes the day would come.
When a boy starts to show the signs of turning into a man.
Jellal had no idea what this would be. He didn’t even know what a boner was. He didn’t even know his body could do that. But then, when he was minding his own business as a slave, ready to do his 9 to 9, someone pointed it out.
“Hey Jellal, what’s going on there?”
“Erm, you know you should probably sort that out.”
He didn’t get it at first.
But then there were more eyes. Then a snigger. And then something was said.
And then the blush heated his face and he avoided everyone for the rest of the day — especially Erza.
It didn’t help that one day it happened again at the worst time, when he was sick.
Sick enough that he had to be admitted in the makeshift infirmary.
The heat was already swallowing his body, and then this just made it worse.
And by some cruel joke by the universe, Erza had sneaked away and come to visit him in the bays.
His head was already spinning, and seeing her just made his blood move in panic.
What made matters worse was the slavers did their rounds and she needed to hide, so unprompted she crawled underneath the infirmary blanket with him and lay flat on top.
Jellal had never wanted the floor to swallow him up more than in that moment.
And it only got worse when he could hear his own breathing deepening for the wrong reasons, and then felt Erza shift and poke him accidentally.
Then the innocent remark which pretty much put him in the ground.
“Jellal you’re heating up.”
“Something’s hard here.”
“Are you okay?”
Dying didn’t seem so bad for a hot minute.
💙 Little moments 💙
✂️ “Haircut”
Despite their conditions, Jellal had been blessed and cursed with hair that grew long and unruly very quickly. In order to keep it out of the way, he would try and cut it with what spare parts of jagged metal or the like he would find.
And he would cut it badly.
Erza helped him when she saw he was cutting himself alongside the hair, and helped him crop his blue waves into something short and manageable.
Because she was so used to the both of them returning the favour, she asked Jellal if he wanted to cut hers too.
The answer blurted out before he could stop it.
“No. I couldn’t”
“Your hair is too pretty.”
He wouldn’t have been able to bring himself to do it.
Erza was stunned, her face warmed up to the colour of her hair.
They both just looked at each other with almost shocked, wide eyes, before breaking into sweet laughter that smoothed over even the most awkward tensions.
-
🍓“Because it’s red.”
They didn’t get fruits. Not really. Not ever.
So when Jellal saw them—sitting there in the slaver’s tray, ignored like they were nothing—he stared at them. Longer than he should have.
There was something about the colour.
Red. Bright. Alive.
He couldn’t get it off his mind.
So he waited. Watched. Then slipped in when the guards switched shifts. Quick with his hands. Light on his feet. Blood still flowing from his knuckles.
He didn’t take much. Just enough so no one would notice. Four. Four little strawberries. Small enough to hide in the folds of his tearing vest.
One for each of them.
One especially for her.
When he came back, the others were already curled into sleep. Like he had hoped. But not Erza. She was still awake, as always when he took too long, tracing shapes in the dirt like he knew she did when her thoughts got too loud.
But then she noticed him.
“Where were you?”
Her words just about a gasp.
He didn’t answer.
He just sat down beside her, careful hands unfolding the filthy cloth like it was something sacred.
Red glistened in the dim light.
Four strawberries.
Real ones.
Still soft.
Still fresh.
Her breath caught.
And he picked one out—the ripest, roundest one—and held it out to her like it was treasure.
“This one’s yours.”
“Why?”
His eyes darted to her hair. Then to her eyes. Then back to the strawberry in his palm.
“…Because it’s red.”
A stupid reason. A childish reason.
But her heart clenched.
She took it slowly. Bit into it. Sweet. Tart. Unbelievable.
Her eyes watered.
She hadn’t known something could taste like that.
Like hope.
“Thank you.”
He looked away, shy.
“It’s nothing.”
It was a risk, and there was no knowing what could come of it had he been caught—
But to see that look of happiness on her face, as tears glazed her eyes in something other than sorrow or fear and to watch as her smile spread stained in pure sweetness,
He already knew he would do it again in a heartbeat.
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These are still in progress and may grow over time. I’m really drawn to how trauma bonds form in childhood and carry into adult relationships, often in subtle, lasting ways.
If you’ve read this far — thank you, Jerza nation. I hope it resonated with you.
Please do let me know your thoughts if you liked what was written here!
Also, if anyone’s curious about more HCs from this timeline or anything about my AU version of Jellal and Erza or anyone else, feel free to ask!
I didn’t include everything here (I fear the post was already getting too long and I don’t want to overwhelm…), but if you’re interested, I’d be more than happy to share more! Just let me know, I’m always ready to dive back in.
And again—thank you to all who took the time to read through this 🫶🏻
Small detail but I love that he just wakes up from conscious and the first person he sees is Erza. Like he’s in the arms of the one person who sees through him and makes him feel safe.
There’s something that bothers me but I don’t usually say anything about it because peace is usually the better option. But sometimes people go too far and you just have to say something.
So I was on Reddit, browsing Jerza posts and then I came across a post which I had to double take for when I actually saw what was written.
Someone making a joke about Jellal’s exchange with Erza at the end of Tartaros.
Annoying but nothing new.
But then I actually clicked on the image.
And I was lowkey speechless.
Like I genuinely felt sick reading this.
Erza is here holding space for her trauma, trembling whilst reliving the most darkest parts of her entire life. About being chained up, being humiliated, stripped naked, being put through excruciating torture, reduced to a less than a human being and getting whiplash from her childhood memories.
And some sick person wrote “lmao. thug it out.” as a response?
As Jellal’s response?
I’m sorry but what the actual…
I genuinely have no words to describe how repulsive this is.
What kind of joke is this? What’s the funny bit here? Reducing Erza’s trauma to fit in your punchline or what? The fact a woman is breaking and you want to use the man who loves her as meme material to mock her?
This is absolutely disgusting and I can’t believe anyone actually is so cruel to do this to Erza.
Irrelevant if this was meant to be a one off joke or what. This is legit inhumane and I don’t believe for one second anyone who can make a remark like this about a character’s suffering actually cares about them.
Because if you can read that scene and this is the edit you make? You don’t care about Erza. You don’t care about Jellal. You care about engagement at someone else’s expense.
Also just to clear about what this scene actually was:
Jellal didn’t “dip” on Erza.
If people had been paying attention they would realise, Jellal COULDN’T stay with Erza, their circumstances WOULDN’T permit. He’s a literal FUGITIVE.
I wonder if the OP forgot that.
So for him to stay with Erza even for a second longer than he should is actually more likely to endanger her AGAIN or even sign her death sentence.
But I’m guessing OP didn’t want to pay attention to the context because they were too busy trying to land a cheap shot.
Which doesn’t even land because you know why?
OP just showed that they care less about Erza’s pain and trauma than Jellal CANONICALLY did.
And Jellal didn’t even KNOW what she went through. He saw she was upset and tried to comfort her.
He said something to try and placate her.
Because that’s what you do when you love and care about someone.
Whilst whoever this OP was, turned her into a punchline.
The man that OP tried to mock and meme?
Treated Erza more humanely and with respect than this OP did.
I’m sorry I’m just so disgusted.
Like fine, don’t like what Jellal said, don’t even like Jellal as a character or respect him if you really can’t, but don’t try and act your trash OOC take is valid criticism when it’s nothing but a low blow.
Don’t say you care about them, Jellal, Erza or literally anyone, when you’re willing to reduce them to nothing but a punchline and thrive off their mockery for your own benefit.
THEY REALLY SAID “lmao thug it out” WHILE ERZA WAS HAVING A TRAUMA FOG FLASHBACK??
NOT ON MY WATCH.
NOT ON MY JERZA-LOVING, EMOTIONALLY REPRESSED FUGITIVE RUNAWAY WATCH.
Jellal Fernandes has done many things—COMITTED CRIMES, grown his TRAGIC STRESS AGED beard, gaslit himself into MONKHOOD—but mocking Erza’s pain was NEVER ONE OF THEM.
THIS MAN looked at her TREMBLING and STILL tried to COMFORT her while RUNNING from the government 🏃, his sins, AND his feelings.
He is the most “I’ll burn in hell quietly, just don’t cry” coded man in the whole show.
And about “He dipped.”
He dipped???? HE DIPPED??? He DIPPED to protect her from getting ASSASSINATED for harboring a fugitive, HELLO???? Do you people even know how laws work???
And let’s not forget:
🪦 This was post-Tartaros.
🪦 This was post-Erza almost dying.
🪦 This was post-Jellal being hunted HIMSELF.
AND THIS MAN STILL TRIED TO ACT FINE FOR HER SAKE.
But noooo. Let’s just slap “lmao” on a trauma panel and call it a day.
People who make these memes are not emotionally mature enough to engage with this pairing. Please go back to coloring pages and leave Jerza in peace.
THANK YOU @yamishika for saying what needed to be said. I would throw a glitter bomb at you if I could.
Jerza is so shoujo (I've forgotten how much I love to draw people blushing, heh). ( ꈍ◡ꈍ) ♡
On a side note, this is just a fun composition and stylistic exercise. ♡ I'm having so much fun with the redraws lately. It's very interesting to play and realize how much you can twist or increase a certain vibe on an image just by playing with angles and little details, heh.
Very underrated Jerza moment but I really love how Erza is always there to encourage Jellal to stand tall with her and work together. Letting Jellal know that he does indeed have a future he should strive for and that she won’t let him fall into despair over the past.
Very underrated Jerza moment but I really love how Erza is always there to encourage Jellal to stand tall with her and work together. Letting Jellal know that he does indeed have a future he should strive for and that she won’t let him fall into despair over the past.
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