Knowing it from the beginning.
(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I original fan-fiction story.)
Chapter 4: Blend the future Part 4 – Surprises that one doesn't expect.
Natsu's home, Magnolia town.
It was dark, it was cold and the wind was picking up in its pace. But none of that mattered to Gajeel as he tried to keep the candles lighted, he just waited for the man called Garreth to arrive soon or he would give him an introduction the Fairy Tail style for keeping him waiting and lighting candles in the middle of a windy night. 'Where the hell is he? !'
Soon after he asked himself that question, he saw movement behind the house and he widened his eyes in surprise. 'Wow! I didn't even sense him coming!'
Before he could even go to the door and look out for him, he was in the middle of the living room; well, it was the living-dinning-kitchen-bath-bedroom, of the house. The man, wearing silver plated armor, like medieval pikemen use to wear during medieval times, was bowing down in front of him. Introducing respectfully to someone who; he believed, was his superior before Gajeel who was awestruck at the entrance of the man.
"I'm Garreth Silverclaw, at your service." Gajeel smirked at the words, he was sure to have something to laugh of in the following days. He signaled the man to stand up and crossed his arms, giving himself some air of authority.
"Gajeel Redfox and you'll do anything I tell you to do." He said, eyeing the man as he stood up and bringing up the question he was urging to ask. "Did Natsu told you anything of importance?"
"He told me to meet with you at his home and ask you to introduce me to Fairy Tail." Gajeel widened his eyes at this. Was Natsu serious? Did he want to have someone infiltrated in the guild to follow their movements? He couldn't help but ask.
"Why's that?" Garreth looked at him straight in the eye after he survey his surroundings and answered at him with the most respectful voice he had.
"Because Natsu-san wants to be aware of the guild's movements during the time the plan takes over."
"I see; good, then I'll introduce you tomorrow at midday to the Master, I'll tell him that you were a member from Phantom Lord that is now looking for forgiveness and a good restart in a guild." Gajeel stated while marching to the door, he turned back before opening the door. "You'll stay here tonight and tomorrow you'll look for a place to stay, understood?"
"Yes… Gajeel-sama." He said knelling to him and looking how, the Dragon Slayer, left the room with a smirk on his face.
Magnolia Town; Fairy Tail Guild, at the master's office.
"What! ?" Gildartz asked loud and clear, his voice almost throwing the men in front of him off balance, and his hands breaking the armrest's of his chair. He couldn't believe this. Natsu was the cause for the strikes that the foreigners were doing? Please, that would so ridiculous as Happy secretly trying to take over the world… something that he would check later if Natsu's involvement with the foreigners was true.
"What you heard Fourth Master of Fairy Tail; we are here to arrest Natsu Dragneel and take him to the Magic Council on Guran Doma's orders to question him on the recent strikes on hand of the foreigners in Fiore." Lahar said while straightening up himself from the sudden outburst of the old man, perfectly repeating what made the old man scream in shock.
Gildartz tried to relax in his seat, re-thinking the situation, if what Lahar said was true then they had every right to take Natsu into custody but… "He leaved yesterday with his team to intercept two of the group's members that are destroying our guilds and one of our mages found. Excuse me from questioning the Council's judgment but if Natsu were to be involved in that matter, don't you think he would avoid confrontation with the foreigners?"
"Clever move but what if he's there to help them? Sorry, orders are orders; tell us where he is and we'll go after him AND the foreigners that your guild members have tracking as soon as possible." Lahar said while frowning, his hate for Fairy Tail's elusive and carefree attitude showing perfectly to the guild master. Gildartz also frowned, he wanted to continue the argument but if the council said so, there was nothing more he could do.
"Okay, he went to meet Erza Scarlet at the town of Brammingmont with Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartfilia, they should be arriving there now." With that said Lahar excused himself, he and his guards abandoned the office, avoiding eye contact with the guild members that looked at them with curious and hating eyes on their path to the front door.
Gildartz sighed as he relaxed on his seat, should he tell Mira and alert the guys or let the council's guards arrest his friend? He didn't know, so, since he was recently appointed Master of the Fairy Tail guild, he did the second. But he told Mira nonetheless and the rest of the guild so they didn't question him later. He just wished that what Lahar told him wasn't true and that Natsu could come back to the guild safely with the others. It was a foolish wish, but one that was worth the effort in having.
"Mira, tell Erza that Lahar and the Rune Knights are going to that town too and that they are going to arrest Natsu." He said after exiting the office and going to the bar where the girl was doing her job, what he told her almost making her drop the tray she was carrying with many drinks on it.
"Are you serious?" She asked after leaving plate on a close table, he just nodded seriously, later turning to face the other members and telling them the same. Receiving an equal answer from them, he turned around and told Mira to get on with the message while he took time to calm and explain the situation to the others. But before she could move to the crystal ball, a strong hand grabbed her from the shoulder and she heard Gildartz saying something more to her that made her turned around to look at the man in shock.
"Tell Erza to keep it secret from Natsu…"
Brammingmont, in time to meet Erza Scarlet and the foreigners.
Brammingmont. A calm farmer town that was surround to the east and west by rivers, the forest to the south and a lake to the north. Its population of mages was that of 100 and the rest of normal people. But even if the population was numerous enough, there was no guild established and there were only two magic stores in the whole city. Which explained why Erza wanted to intercept the troublemakers there and not in a bigger city. Even if there was possibility of doing heavy damage to the town than to a bigger one, she wanted to prevent them from destroying another guild if she and her friends were to failed, and time to alert the guild in case something went wrong. But going with our favorite team, they just arrived from Magnolia and were wondering if they should leave their stuff first or leave it for later and searched for their friend.
"Should we leave our stuff in a hotel or just go the town's outskirts to wait for Erza?" Lucy asked, after getting down from the train. His two partners on toe and having an argument about how was stronger after so many years of been separated. Lucy immediately took the opportunity to crank a joke on her friends' behalf. "Catching up after being separated for five years?"
"Hell no!" Both said, to what she laughed, it was lucky for them that Happy wasn't here or he would crack jokes on them too. But turning serious again, Lucy restated her question, making them stop and think about what she said. Gray being the first to talk and make her realize that he truly grew up in the past years. "Let's leave to hotel and meet Erza as quickly as possible; she will kill us if we're not there when the foreigners arrive."
"Good! Then stop bickering and let's move, if not, Erza isn't going to be the only one to butcher the two of you." The blonde haired girl said in a darker tone, making the two boys pale in fear and hugged each other shoulder to shoulder.
"Aye sir!" They said in unison before restarting their arguing again while following Lucy, she was glad that they haven't change a lot in the past years so that way she could make them do what she wanted. Walking through the streets, they noticed that the town was suspiciously quiet, not even a cat was on the streets, they were empty and the houses were closed tightly from the inside. Windows sealed with planks and doors with signs that clearly said that the place was evacuated. Lucy and the guys frown at that, did that mean that the people were already aware of the damage that the foreigners could do in their path?
"Leave your things in the alley; I don't think that the hotel is open." She said after leaving her backpack well hidden at the closest alley, Gray and Natsu following suit and the last one sighing in relief at seeing that no innocents were about to be harmed because of their plan. They continued walking until they reached the town's square, where buildings leave a triangle-like space for the people to sell their merchandise and where it stood a beautiful fountain in the middle. The houses looked the same as the one they come a crossed near the train station. Lucy felt a little drop of sweat falling down her face. "Looks like we'll have the town to fight against those guys…"
"Seems like it," Said Gray while eyeing their surroundings. "Nonetheless I hope that we don't have to fight…"
"Why? Are you scared of something happening to you?" Natsu said jokingly.
"No! I'm just thinking about not destroying the houses of the people that use to live here!"
"Aw! You've become too soft Gray, have you been hanging with Levy and Lucy too much while I was gone?"
"Ha! You wish! I'm just showing my caring side you moron!" They were forehead to forehead at this point.
"You're the moron! Ice butterfly!"
"Is that the best insult you have, feet warmer! ?"
"What did you say! ?"
"Guys!" Lucy said in her darker tone again, making them stop again and cower in fear. "Focus!"
"Well, well, look at what we have here…" Someone from on top of the rooftops said, catching the attention of the team and making them turn around to look at the speaker. It was a man wearing a tattered cloak, sitting at the border of the roof and waving his hand at them when they looked is way. "Hi, my fellow mages! Are you here to join us?"
"You wish!" Gray said while stepping to the front, Natsu frowning at his move but saying nothing. "What's your name and where's your partner? !"
"Well, you see, she's gone taking care of the woman that was following us." He said while pointing to the forest over the south, he later pointed at himself. "And I'm none-of-your-business!"
"Tsk, is that the best comeback you have?" Gray said while turning his back to the man while raising his arms and putting his hands behind his head. Eyes meeting with Natsu and Lucy, telling the first one to go and search for their red-haired companion as he and Lucy took care of the now angry man on the rooftop. After getting the message, Natsu nodded and waited for a moment to go away from the place without the man stopping him in the attempt. Gray nodded and turned around smirking at the hooded man who was now on the street in front of the building he was previously sitting on. "Guess that the people from out the country don't fight too much, I'm beginning to wonder if you'll be worth the effort of travelling for two days…"
"I'll make you re-think that question of yours stripper!" He said while pointing at Gray's now naked body, the boy looked down in shock, the girl at his side scream in shock and his friend laughed hardly at the bad habit that the ice mage still had. However, instead of letting the boy pick up some of his clothes, he took the chance to go fast against him with the intention to kick him in the chin. Failing because of a bright light and a strong hand gripping his leg, when he looked up, Gray raising his face with a smirk back in place while Lucy hold the key of the celestial spirit that she summoned. The hooded man looked in wonder for a long while at the thing that appeared out of nowhere and stopped his attack, it was an extremely tall, well-built bull covered a black & white patch coat. The only thing he was wearing was a blue speedo, a silver belt with a red buckle in the shape of a bull's head and a pair of black rubber boots. He had a gold earring in his nose and a bell on his neck. His chest was crossed by a belt with a scabbard for a giant axe that didn't scare the hooded man one bit.
"And you would be one of those celestial spirits that I heard of, right?" The hooded man said after the bull released his leg and allowed him to jump back a few meters. "One from the golden keys that represent the Zodiac…"
"That's right! And I'm here to help Lucy-san and her friend!" Taurus said with crossed arms and a serious look, earning a laugh from the hooded man. Who didn't notice when Natsu took his opportunity to leave the place or at least that was what they thought.
"Oh, sorry, it's just that your strong guy pose doesn't strike me as intimidating… I saw things more intimidating than you in my life I assure you…" He took out the long, hooded light cloak and revealed his body to his opponents, which looked at him in shock. His body was lean and built of average height, grey eyes, and spiky blonde-colored hair. But that wasn't what made the Fairy Tail look at him in shock; it was the terrible looking scars that covered most of the right side of his body. He was wearing a dark tank top under a short-sleeved yellow shirt, loose dark jeans ending below his knees with a simple belt keeping it in place and dark combat boots. "More dangerous too; but that doesn't matter right now! You're in our way and I'll be sure to remove you from it, be it as corpses or ashes!"
"Don't you mean dead or alive?" Gray said after getting out of his shock at the man's appearance.
"Whatever! Prepare to suffer!" He started to run at them with a fist risen which was quickly engulf in lighting to the surprise of his opponents that were later shock beyond reality when he screamed the name of his attack. "Lightning Dragon's Numbing Fist!"
"Lucy-san! Take cover!" Taurus screamed as he put himself in between the attack and his master/friend.
"He's a Dragon Slayer!" Lucy screamed the second she was out of her stupor, not noticing how close the man was to them but luckily Gray did, and acted quickly to save his friend.
"Dodge it!" Gray said at the same time he tackle her to get her out of the attack's way.
A large explosion and a big cloud of smoke was seeing from afar, Natsu stopping on his way to 'help' Erza without looking back at where his friends were. He just clenched his fists and teeth in regret and continue running to where he felt his other partner in the plan's magic being use, his only words for his now fighting friends being.
"I'm sorry… Guys..."
To be continued.
Well, here is a new chapter, and the things are getting exciting. Gajeel meets with Garreth, Gildartz is now aware of Natsu's situation and the Council's army is on their way to the town in which the team of mages that we all love has entered a fight against the Lightning Dragon Slayer no less!
I could have made a larger fighting introduction but I'm thinking of making the next chapter full of fights, so you'll have to wait... Kukukukuku!
Now I'm leaving so I hope you guys liked it. Because I certainly did.
Saludos.