A/N: So, for a while I have been thinking of delving into that infamous off-screen first meeting between Erza and Jellal (as Siegrain) and now here it is. Fair warning to everyone - this is now sweet and cuddly. There are only the slightest hints of attraction in the midst of a lot of hate between those two.

I hope you like it anyway. I hope I got the tone right as this is meant to be canon-compliant. Enjoy!

April x783

It was the contrast of azure blue and dark red that caught her attention as she walked along the large halls of the Magic Council headquarters with the Master. The match of those colors always seemed to affect her somewhat… it might be even the reason why she chose blue as the color for her guild mark, contrasting heavily with her hair. That time, however, the match wasn't just any other. It was the blue of hair… and the red of a facial tattoo.

The colors spoke his name to her immediately. Jellal.

For a moment, her mind forgot about all the bad and was happy to see him after such a long time. Her friend. Her best friend. Her… beacon of light in a place with no hope. He looked well and healthy and had grown tall and handsome, which somehow that didn't surprise her. She might have blushed, had their eyes not suddenly met… had the spell of forgetfulness not broken… had the memories of his actions not flooded her head.

And then, he was not her friend anymore – he was her enemy. The jailor of her friends. And he was there, in the magic council, perfectly relaxed like he had done nothing wrong. Liar. Traitor. Criminal.

He was all those things and yet he didn't look them. In fact, he looked more than relaxed – his lips had the slightest curl on them as recognition flooded his face. But it was not a fond smile – not at all. It was the barest hint of a smirk, as if he was… smug. From being there.

She felt something in her head snapping as any hint of self-control in her vanished.

How dare he?!

He could have probably stopped the punch from landing if he'd really tried. He wasn't sure why he hadn't bothered. Maybe part of him felt like she did deserve a shot at him… or maybe he was just a closet masochist. Who knew?

Either way, before the toad-faced guards nearby could even react, Erza Scarlet had thrust her fist right onto Councilman Siegrain's face and all hell broke loose.

"Erza!" Makarov Dreyar shouted in disbelief as a crowd of toad guards jumped her all too late.

Siegrain, despite his victimized status, remained surprisingly composed after the assault he had suffered. He tasted the metallic flavor of blood, even though he could tell that, thankfully, she hadn't knocked anything out of place. He must have unconsciously bitten down on the inside of his cheek as the punch landed there, he thought, and felt mildly annoyed at the realization that he would likely sport an embarrassing bruise there for the following weeks. How troublesome.

"Erza, are you out of your mind!?" the Fairy Tail guild master hissed. By then, the toad guard already had her on her knees on the floor, actively restraining her from assaulting him again. "You have just assaulted a magic councilman! Do you have any idea what sort of trouble you have just brought down on yourself?!"

"A councilman?! He is no councilman! He is a criminal!" Erza accused furiously.

"Those are very serious accusations you are making, Miss Scarlet," one of the guards pointed out. "Bear in mind that, should they be fake, slander will be added to your already-long list of charges." With that, he looked away from her and turned to face the battered councilman. "If Siegrain-sama excuses us, we will be taking Miss Scarlet down to one of the cells immediately," he informed him as a courtesy.

"Oh, that will not be necessary," Siegrain responded casually, as if they'd just offered him a cup of tea or something equally mild. "I am starting to see this has been an unfortunate, yet understandable misunderstanding on Miss Scarlet's part. I see no need to have her charged over an honest mistake."

"But Siegrain-sama! She has assaulted a councilman in public. It is an unacceptable crime. It…"

"… is a mere misunderstanding that I am willing to forgive, as I have said. Now, please unhand Miss Scarlet," Siegrain insisted, his harder tone indicating his words were not a request but instead an order. "I would like to have a word with her elsewhere."

"I am not going anywhere with the likes of you," she hissed as the toad guards had no choice but to let go of her and allow her to get back up.

"Now, now, Miss Scarlet. A hallway is no place to discuss personal matters," Siegrain responded you. "I have released you in good faith. I trust that would at least enable you to behave yourself for a moment and give me a chance to explain this clear case of mistaken identity."

She glared, clearly not believing a word. Before she could bark back a response, though, she felt a hand on her wrist and looked sideways to see the Master giving her a look.

"Could you allow us moment, Councilman Siegrain?" Makarov requested.

Siegrain didn't look very happy about it but he nodded and gestured to a nearby balcony, indicated it as an appropriate place for them to talk privately. "Please make it quick. I would like this matter settled as soon as possible."

Makarov nodded and led Erza there by the arm, not looking back until they were both standing outside.

"Master…" she started.

He held up a hand, gesturing for her to stop. "I am not going to ask what the matter between you two is. You are not the first and certainly will not be the last member of our guild to have a contrived past. I can tell it isn't pretty. But for the sake of the guild, I will ask one thing of you: keep your cool today. Remember that we did not come to Era for a leisure trip. We came because the guild is enough trouble with the council as it is. I promise that if your concerns about Councilman Siegrain prove correct, you can come to me and I will help you with it. Just, please, don't get us in more trouble before we solve the one we're already in!"

Erza bit down on her lip. While part of her wanted to protest, another one had to understand the Master's worries. In the end, she nodded. "I understand, Master. I will do my best to control myself… even if that will not be an easy task around that man."

Makarov sighed. "That is all I can ask for."

And so, with the Master's blessing, she went to meet Siegrain back in the hallway, where he stood perfectly calm. It annoyed her how there was no apparent outward sign of him having been punched not five minutes before apart from mild redness and she couldn't help but hope that a shiner would form on his face in the next few hours.

"Shall we?" he said, starting to turn on his heel.

She didn't respond – just followed him when he started walking away.

They treaded together through several hallways, which seemed to be far more heavily populated by toad guards than the ones she had walked through with the master before running into the so-called councilman. She suspected they were on the lookout for more infractions from her in hopes of throwing her into a cell. At some point, 'Siegrain' walked turned towards a set of tall doors and opened them, standing to the side, gesturing for her to walk in.

"Ladies first, courtesy dictates," he said charmingly, which only earned him a glare from her.

Enraged, Erza strode past him and didn't even wait for him to close the door before starting her verbal onslaught. "I do not know what you are playing at by infiltrating the council, Jellal, but do not believe for a second that I will fall for your games the same way everyone seems to have."

"Ah, so it is as I suspected," he said with a sigh. "You have met my brother, Miss Scarlet."

She turned around and eyed him sharply. "Your 'brother'?! You really believe I am that gullible? If I had a jewel for every time a criminal invokes the 'long-lost twin' excuse on me…"

"Now, now, Miss Scarlet. While I will admit that twin-hood is, indeed, overused as an excuse for the most varied crimes, it stands that it is a naturally-occurring phenomenon in nature and that it is only expected that you would, at some point, find a legitimate case of twin-related mistaken identity."

"So, you are actually attempting to convince me that you are actually not Jellal Fernandes but instead his twin brother who he never mentioned in my presence?"

"You cannot really blame a child for avoiding painful subjects to spare himself from pain. And on the matter of painful subjects, I believe forced separation from one's family would rank fairly high. You would know that as well, wouldn't you?"

She looked away, biting down on her lip.

"Be serious, Miss Scarlet. Do I really remind you of the Jellal you knew so much?"

He most certainly did not. But then again, she didn't know Jellal at all. The Jellal from the last moments they had spent together was nothing like the one who had been her friend. Her rock. "That does not mean a thing," she assured him. "But let's say you are telling the truth. Let's say you really are his brother. Answer me this question, then? Why is this the first time I am hearing about you? Where have you been?

"As I have told you, Miss Scarlet, Jellal could have very well avoided the subject to protect himself from the pain of losing our family and, to be quite frank, before today I had no reason to believe you knew my brother in any way, therefore what reason could I have to approach you?"

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" she questioned.

"That tends to be the case when one is speaking the truth."

She glared. "That still doesn't explain why you haven't done anything about him yet. You're a councilman – you have battalion after battalion of rune knights behind you."

"I have been a councilman for only two weeks," he pointed out. "I am still acquainting myself with the building, not to mention the politics of my new position. And there is still the fact that I believe that involving the Magic Council in Jellal's business might not be a very good idea. I hear my brother is dabbling with very dangerous magic, Miss Scarlet."

"The R-system," Erza said.

"Ah, so you know… Well, then you should also know just how dark it is. Dark enough that the council would want it disposed of regardless of any collateral damage. Taking into account the whispers of slavery that I have been receiving from my informants, I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was condemning so many innocent souls along with his…"

Erza's mind immediately drifted Wally, Shou, Millianna, Simon… the friends he had forced her to leave behind and who would, certainly, be among those innocent souls that were just mentioned.

"I would sincerely discourage you from taking matters into your own hands either, Miss Scarlet. Or involving your guild in it. Jellal is a very powerful mage these days – strong enough that I am not even confident on my own skills to take him down despite my impending appointment as a Wizard Saint – and the things he is involved with are not the sort that you would want to drag your friends into."

"So, we're supposed to just leave him be…" she said in disgust even though she had thought things over multiple times already and come to the same conclusion herself: that the collateral damage of facing Jellal would be immense, either when it came to her old friends or her new ones. But as much as Siegrain's words made sense to her, there was a dark feeling within her telling her that she was dealing with someone rotten and untrustworthy – she had to admit, though, that it might be only his resemblance to Jellal confusing her thoughts.

"For the time being, yes."

She pursed her lips together. "This is not right."

"Most things in this world are not, Miss Scarlet," he responded.

If she had had any doubt in her mind that the man in front of her was not to be trusted, his careless tone sure set that idea in stone.

He cleared his throat. "This matter is settled as far as I am concerned. I will order the guards not to bother you or your guild about that little incident in the hallway. Please be reminded, Miss Scarlet – my brother's current activities are best kept between us… for the sake of innocent lives, of course. With that said, you may go if you feel like it."

Although she felt like anything but staying, his dismissive tone irked her beyond words. She simply couldn't be in that man's presence a moment longer. As such, she turned her back on him and made her way to the door. Before going out, she stopped and looked back. "I do not like you," Erza informed him plainly.

"Pity. I found you so interesting myself," he replied, looking mildly disappointed.

She had grown beautifully, he couldn't help but think, his thoughts betraying his Siegrain persona. Her hair was as majestic as he remembered it (almost painfully so, as the mere sight of it made a part of him he had long kept repressed want to fight back, if not for anything else, then just to run his fingers through those glorious red locks), her features had sharpened, her body had become womanly and her strength… oh was she strong… He had kept an eye out over the years of course to see her quickly growing into the stuff of legends. He would have liked to keep her for himself but such a thing was not doable… her perfection was unfortunate for him, in the sense that that made her Lord Zeref's alone. No one was as unblemish and therefore as worthy of being his sacrifice.

Erza's eyed were murderous even though she could in no way read the man's thoughts. She frowned at his words alone and looked away, slamming the door on the way out without another word.

The path back to the master was made with her fuming, more bothered by the meeting that she was proud of. She had a feeling he'd been pushing her buttons on purpose and gotten exactly what he'd wanted. Bastard.

Makarov awaited her impatiently on the same spot where the confrontation had occurred. He looked at her questioningly once she reached him. "Well?"

"There will be no repercussions for myself and the guild," she informed the master. "I apologize for losing my temper."

"Does the guild need to intervene in your feud with the councilman?" he asked. The implication behind his words was obvious: 'Tell us how he hurt you and we'll make him pay.'

She shook her head. "It's a personal matter, Master."

"Are you sure?"

Her mind flashed back to Siegrain's words. 'The things he is involved with are not the sort that you would want to drag your friends into,' he had said and, as much as she hated the man, she couldn't help but feel like he was right about that much. "Yes."

Makarov sighed. "I will have to take your word for it, then," he said. "Now, let's go. Yajima is waiting – he'll take us straight to the chairman for our apology for destroying that bridge."

She nodded in silence and followed without question… and as they walked down the hall, she saw him again, Siegrain, making his way down some stairs with his eyes on her and a vague smirk on his face, that only served to anger her further.

That time, she forced herself to avert her eyes from him. That time. Because there was no doubt in her mind that she was not done with that man just yet. Not nearly.

That was only the beginning, after all.

The End