Knowing it from the beginning.

(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I original fan-fiction story.)

Chapter 3: Blend the future Part 3 – Wishing for the best, hoping for the worst.

For the group of foreigners and our friend, meetings were first order business these days, since everybody needed to report daily their advances through Fiore and the actions that they take, every day, at midday was obligatory to take a nap. Yes, a nap. And report to the rest what transpired during the day and few hours; if the member woke up early, before to the meeting. Right now, the meeting was a little heated, several members were discussing about what they found indignant of Fiore and the ruling that the Council had over the mages of the country. To say the least, it seemed like it was going to be a very long nap.

'Pretending that everything is fine when in reality they are plotting for the disgrace of everyone, that is what we're facing.' Literio said calmly, his arms crossed and eyes closed. Stating what he saw and heard during his short time in Fiore. 'And that's not all; they're banning the usage of several kinds of magic in this country, classifying them as dangerous.'

'That's ridiculous! Many of that "forbidden" magic can take years to learn, even more to master!' Screamed a green haired man at his side, his eyes showing distaste for the subject they were talking.

'We know that, the ones who don't know are the mages of Fiore! Tell them instead of being yelling it at us!' Counter a petit girl with blonde hair tied up in a short ponytail. She covered her ears to emphasize her words.

'Adding more,' Garreth spoke while frowning and raising his voice a little, almost cutting his monotone and imperturbable persona. 'They lock down every mage that shows innate ability to that magic, they even arrest the travellers from other countries.'

'Yeah! They put in prison seven of my countrymen!' Kurisu screamed. Unconsciously summoning a sword in his hand because of the fury he felt. 'They are all good friends that would never think of using Fiore's so-called-forbidden magic in a bad way! I say that we release everybody now!'

'Calm my friends, let's not do anything rash that we may regret later. We have sacrifice a lot to make it this far.' The strange man with dark purple hair said calmly to everyone in the dark place. 'Natsu-san is about forsake everything he considers precious to him in this crusade too, as each and every one of us in this place surrendered something for the greater good. We'll have opportunity to release all the innocents when we strike Era's prison, until then, we'll have to follow the plan.'

'Good words for someone who didn't do anything more than establish this way to communicate with each other…!' Asis was cut short by Natsu and a sudden rise in temperature that affected all of the present.

'Do you even know how this sleep control magic works! ?' Natsu growled while glaring menacingly at her. 'He has been sleeping for the past year and hasn't woken up to do something else in all that time!'

'Admirable.' Fuyu stated, closely followed by Literio's almost surprised voice. 'He has forsaken his freedom.'

'If he were to even wake up for a minute, the whole connection would shatter and we would be unable to communicate with our still separated friends until the spell is restarted.' Natsu finished while calming slightly and giving a step back, returning at the side of the strange man.

'I-I didn't know that… Sorry…' Asis said, recovering from the intense glare she received, alongside a terrible magic pressure that almost crushed her bones and it seemed that only she felt.

Natsu scoffed and brushed her apology, pointing at the strange man with a flamed finger. 'It's okay, as long as everyone understands that when he said "each and every one of us", he also included himself, I'm fine. You should apologize to him.'

'No need, I understand that not many are aware of the counters of this magic, so I already forgave her when she recognized her mistake.' The strange man interceded, preferring to brush the whole incident aside. 'In more important matters, Natsu here has arrived to his town and his guildmates already suspect that something is off, we need to hurry the plan before they discover what he got himself into…'

'Or he spills out the truth to one of those girls from his guild.' Kurisu whisper loud enough to Fuyu, earning a grin from almost every man in the place, a frown from the women and a sigh from the strange man.

'What did you say! ?' Natsu asked furiously while stepping closer to the maniac, his entire body on flames to try and cover the hints of a blush on his cheeks that didn't go unnoticed by his fellows.

'Come on! Everyone here knows.' Kurisu said defensively while raising both hands in surrender and stepping back from Natsu and the heat, his grin never leaving his face.

'You son of a…!' Natsu was about to punch the guy when a cold hand from the strange man, who was behind him, grabbed his wrist and stopped him dry before he could do anything to Kurisu. He later turned to every one of the present and spoke calmly while returning to his place with Natsu on toe. 'Calm everyone. Natsu's love life is not important; in fact, that just give us one more reason to hurry.'

'You too! ?' Natsu let a betrayed look took over his features while pouting, while the strange man hided his amused smile to everyone but him.

'Told you.' Kurisu said while grinning and hiding behind an annoyed Fuyu.

'Shut up!'

'Shut up the both of you! You're giving me a headache!' The petit girl said again as she yet again covered her ears with her hands. The strange man, seeing that the argument was finished restarted the meeting.

'So, should we hurry or stay as we are?' Several answered the first option, much to Natsu's chagrin. Although, instead of glaring or pressuring everyone with his magic he turned his back to them and crouched on the floor, doing small circles with his finger.

'Now I know that none of you trust me… I feel betrayed…' A few snickers were heard but Natsu paid them no attention as he continued doing circles. This earned him a chorus of laughs that didn't last long as one the members gave a loud cough that turned the looks of many to him. Everyone saw a man with blue hair in the place, looking timidly at the inexistent floor.

'Yes, Baron?' The strange man asked in a kind voice, remembering how timid the boy that called everyone's attention was.

'D-do we k-know anything about Ta-ta-ta-tartaros?' Several mixed looks were exchanged as the boy sighed in relief for not being the center of attention anymore, no one knew anything about the dark guild that was the last from the Balam Alliance and was the most probably to do something at the same time they fulfill their objective. When the looks turned to Natsu, he shake his head in negation, since he arrived he hadn't heard anything about the only active member of the alliance or its whereabouts.

'Did we almost forgot about them or it's just my imagination?' The green haired man spoke in mock amusement, the others only frowning at his question.

'Perhaps, since they didn't make a move in a long while it wouldn't' be a surprise to forget them or their importance.' Asis pointed out.

'No one heard anything? Not even about their members?' Asked the strange man; shaking heads being his only answer to his question.

'Then it is to assume that they have disbanded or just waiting to see if we are on their side.' Said Fuyu while looking at the ground, the others thinking along the same line. 'Either way, they are going to be a pain in the ass.'

'Maybe they are scare of our power!' Kurisu screamed confidently earning a sweat dropped from all his partners.

'Let's not assume anything yet, we know close to nothing about them. Not even how many members do they have, or where they are.' Natsu said still sitting on the floor but facing his comrades. 'Best option is to stay on guard and be ready for anything, keep our ears and eyes on things that could point to them moving or taking advantage of our action. We're causing chaos to divert attention and make the job easier, not to give the country in a silver plate to the first party that wants it.'

'That's right, even if we don't like the way things are here, we are just to release Jellal Fernandez and leave. Nothing more nothing less.' The petit blonde girl said while giving two steps back and merging with the darkness around her, understanding that the meeting was over but not leaving without some parting words. 'Meet you guys in Magnolia…'

'I'm at the outskirts of the town, so I'll meet this Iron Dragon-Slayer and follow the orders you gave me Natsu-san.' Garreth said while disappearing like dust in the wind. 'Until next time, see you in the next meeting.'

'So it's over? Yeah! Bye losers!' Kurisu said while laughing and disappearing through the floor alongside Fuyu.

'Bye everyone'

'See you!'

'Bye.'

'Be nice with us tomorrow Natsu-chan!' Asis said while merging with the darkness along Literio. 'Hope to see you in action again!'

And soon, everyone disappeared. Back to their jobs and on the way to Magnolia, leaving just Natsu and the strange man to talk privately about other things, the strange man turning to face the pink-haired boy who was still sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bored look. 'You do know that if you were to be discovered the whole plan would fall to pieces, right?'

'Of course I know, what I don't know is why you are saying that again.' The strange man sighed and sat in front of the fire-eater in a similar fashion.

'Because of your predictability my friend, the second you start to doubt if to not tell your guildmates is wrong, is the second we're going to start the plan B… and you know that plan B is not better that plan A…'

'I know that… but, seriously, why cannot we tell them or even include them in the plan?'

'Because when you tell them, they are going to try and talk you out of it, blame us for getting you into this when actually it was your idea and tell you all kinds of things when you say that it was your plan.'

'Oh, really? Things like what?'

'Are you an idiot? Natsu, why are you doing this? Are you serious? You know you're betraying the guild too? And many other things that with enough thinking from your part would make the plan crumble even before plan B is put into action…'

'…' Natsu kept quiet. Thinking in what was told to him. It was true; his old friends would side against him if he were to tell them that he's the reason behind all the chaos that was happening in Fiore at the hands of the foreign magicians. He was also sure that some of his closest friends would try to talk him out of it every chance they get to and also, if the situation presented itself, one of them would side with him in front of everyone… only to spy him and the group, alerting the others of their abilities and magic powers, and most important: the date in which they were to strike the council. Getting out of his musings, Natsu faced the strange man again, a troubled look still on his face.

'Seriously Natsu, do not tell them, at least don't do it before the others arrive… when the last from us gets to Magnolia, you're to do what you want be it for the good or bad of your friends…'

'…Okay… I'll wait…' The strange man stood up from his seated position and started to walk to the darkness, his figure vanishing with every step.

'Good, then, see you later Natsu…' Natsu waved good bye and closed his eyes, concentrating on waking up from the dream and back into consciousness. Back into reality, he found himself being dragged around by a half burnt Gray with a soot covered Lucy looking at him from time to time as they walk through a street from a city he didn't know about; he immediately supposed that it wasn't the place that they were going to but why his friends were like they entered a house in fire was out of his mind. "Huh… where are we, Luce?"

"Don't know; we just stop to eat while the train gets fix…" He thought he heard some bitterness in her voice and a glare being directed at him from the man carrying him.

"…Did… something happen while I was asleep?" He was suddenly released by Gray when he said that, his head hitting the road rather hard. The dark haired man continued his walk to the closest restaurant as Natsu only stare at his retreating back and Lucy sighed, helping him in getting up from the floor and explaining what happened.

"What were you dreaming? Whatever that was, it made you get angry and light up in fire twice! The whole train would have been burned to the ground if it weren't because of Gray's ice magic…" Natsu blushed slightly at the memory of the meeting and the two times he used his magic in the dream, first when the strange man was insulted and second when it was mentioned that he could be capable of spilling out the truth to one of his girl friends from the guild. "Were you dreaming… about someone?"

"Huh? No! No! I wasn't dreaming about a girl or anything!" Lucy eyed Natsu suspiciously before smiling softly and turning to follow Gray to the restaurant. Natsu followed close behind her. "Hey! What was that smile supposed to mean! ?"

"Nothing, just remembering that you are a guy too and think about girls as any other…" Natsu nodded at her answer, only to frown at the implications of what she said.

"Wait a minute! You don't see me like a guy most of the time?" Lucy bitted back a laugh and continued to walk calmly with a fuming Natsu at her side.

"That's right." She said while enjoying how her friend was losing his patience. In reality, he wasn't mad at her for what she said because she didn't mean it, and she knew this as well so, after a few seconds both burst out laughing like the old times.

Road to Brammingmont; a day away from the town.

"Is she still following us?" Asis asked while kicking a rock in the middle of the road, a nod being her only answer. "She's good, if it weren't being because Natsu-chan told us that she was following us, we wouldn't have known of her presence until she made herself known…"

"True, is good to see that Natsu-san's partners are so skill but also bad." Literio said without losing sight of the front, or the feeling of their stalker following them at 50 mts away from behind in between the trees and bushes.

"Bad because they'll give us trouble and good 'cause…?" Asis didn't resist the urge and looked back, almost catching a glimpse of their stalker far away. Literio immediately grabbed her by the waist and turned her head back to the front.

"Please, eyes on the road," He said close to her ear, making her blush again and keeping her focus on what he said. "I'm starting to think that you like it when I do this…"

"S-shut up…!" She screamed before pushing him away and walking fast down the road, Literio watching her go with an amused smile which quickly vanished when he remembered that they were being followed. She didn't know why but every time he did that kind of things, she always ended up at his mercy and whim. In short, she hate it when he did that… and at the same time love it… not that she would openly admit it to him… yet. "You didn't answer my question!"

"On the good side, they could be great additions to our plan or have the strength to survive us when we fight against them." He said the last line with some anticipation in it, like hoping it to happen. His partner noticed this but kept quiet; almost agreeing with on that part… except for the pain it could cause Natsu to see his friends fighting against each other.

"You do know that Natsu-chan wouldn't like that, right?"

"Do you know that I don't care?

To be continued.

Here you go, people, the third chapter. I'm glad I finish it before the weekend, I didn't want to work on the story on saturday or sunday when I could be enjoying outside... with the cold wind, the cloudy day, the low temperatures... What the **** did I do! ?

Honestly, I started this chapter as to give hints of what the main pairing will be but it ended up showing that the group in which Natsu is, is not like the guild in which he was raised most of his life. Personal interests, jealousy, revenge, justice, etc. etc. In short, plotting behind plotting, everyone minding their own business regargless of their peers intentions.

Dear god, I hope I don't lose the plot in all this mess I'm doing.

Anyway, here you go, I hope you guys like it. Because I certainly did.

Saludos.