Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.

I do own the OCs that appear through the story, Nova Scarlet, Kaki Dragneel and the idea for the fic.

Knowing it from the beginning.

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

Chapter 10: 'Sorry, I just realize that I'm an idiot…' – Natsu's admission.

(Era; Magic council's reunion chamber.)

Natsu reveals his objectives; the Rune Knights are close by the minute and Jellal starting to learn of his heritage! What is the Council doing after coming with assumptions about the troubles in Fiore?

"Report." Said the stern voice of the Chairman as he and his affiliates gazed at the crystal ball in which Lahar's face was shown; they were growing impatient, two days passed and still no success in capturing the one they thought was behind all what was happening. It could be felt in the air; the room's atmosphere was so heavy that only the Chairman and the Councilmen were inside, any other person was out to allow the most important people of Fiore's magic community talk without being bothered. Lahar fixed his glasses and cough on his fist before clearing his throat to start his report, the antics of his preparation only making the air in the room heavier and some councilmen growl in anxiety.

"We arrived at Magnolia town yesterday and found out that the Dragon-Slayer known as Natsu Dragneel was sent in urgency to an S-class mission with members of his old team, to support a member of said guild whom was stalking two foreigners heading to Brammingmont." Guran raised an eyebrow, nodding shortly to make the man continue. "We are already at the outskirts of the place but, there's something that alerted us and made us stop our advance into the city."

"And that is?" Asked councilman Reteo while tapping his forearm impatiently, he wanted the Head of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit to cut short the pleasantries and go back to his assigned duty.

"A terrible magic pressure was felt over the city and after it stopped, something that we couldn't see well crashed at the north side of the town, close to where we are." Everyone started muttering about what was said and debate if it was okay to send just one unit to the place, though, Guran's cane hitting the floor shut everyone. The old wizard stared at them with some annoyance before speaking with the officer again.

"The news you give are shocking and troubling but our decision remains the same, enter that city and arrest Dragneel and the foreigners that he and his comrades of Fairy Tail were sent to intercept; also, arrest anyone who tries to help them, that situation might happen again as the time when they stated that Jellal Fernandez was their friend and tried to free him." Looking at everyone in the eye with serious determination, he finished by saying. "This time, we will make them know what happens to those that support traitors or law-breakers."

Nods were sent his way and some even gave a small clapping of hands, but Lahar had a slightly troubled look on his face. "Anyone? Even if they are the mages of Fairy Tail?"

"Yes. He, as a member of Fairy Tail, was the one to say those insolent words when Fernandez was being arrested, so I will not take any chances; if the mages of that guild try to stop his detention, you and your unit will take them into custody too." Lahar stared unbelievably at the Chairman for a few seconds, nodding doubtfully after the words sink in his mind and cutting the transmission to do as told. Councilman Pryer was the one to talk first after several minutes of silence passed, breaking the silence so suddenly that some were startled at hearing his voice.

"Are you sure that it is a good decision, Chairman? In the actual state of things, losing mages of our side is not something rational; we'll be weakening our own chances of winning against the attackers." After noticing than that escape the mind of many, half of the council started to nodded and voice out their agreements with what was said; earning the instant response of the half that was okay with the Chairman's decision.

"For what I remember, the old team of Dragneel was formed by three excellent S-class mages that we cannot have the luxury to retire from active service," Councilmen Sefaly added after the voices died down a little, lifting his fingers in order as he named each and all of the three other mages that were part of Team Natsu. "Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet…"

Now more were against the idea of getting them arrested if they happened to help the conspirator, making Guran finally snap at the constant discussion and hit the table with his clenched armored fist that made a clanging sound on impact, stopping any more words from coming out of the mouths of his colleagues. His eyes were red in anger, his expression stern and his fist remained clenched at his side when he withdrew it from over the cracked table. The second one he broke that week.

"My decision is final, if those three try to stop our Knights from arresting that traitor; they'll share the same fate as him and be considered co-conspirators of his cause! This meeting is adjourned!"

Everyone stood silent at the words, not daring to mutter a word while they watched the old man walk furiously out of the room. Councilmen Org was the one to break the silence this time as he and the others stood up from their seats and marched out of the room, his words were less than optimistic. "He's taking us to our end."

"But what can we do? Even if all of us agree to stop that order of zero-tolerance he'll just veto our decision and continue with it." Sefaly stated thoughtfully as he opened the door for the others, Org and Pryer staying behind with him to continue with the unofficial discussion.

"Then we must do something when the members of Fairy Tail stand on trial, there, his chairman faculties will not be of use since we must vote for the punishment." Pryer said to them with some confidence in his plan, only to see the two older councilmen shook their heads.

"That's true, but we must have a majority in the voting, otherwise, our efforts will be for nothing." Sefaly reply while sinking his head in surrender, though Org came up with something quickly to change that possible outcome.

"Let's try to convince our colleagues of voting with us against punishing those wizards, several of them are against of losing such needed manpower when we're on our weakest." The other two thought about it for a moment before giving him a firm nod, Org turned around to leave. "Talk with everyone but avoiding those you saw that agree with Doma-san's decision, also, we need to do it quickly; Lahar might be bringing them any of these days."

(Brammingmont; North side of the town, next to the crash site.)

"You what! ?" Erza shouted in disbelief at the pink-haired, staring at him with wide shocked eyes before coming close to him and grabbing him by the shoulders to shake him. "Tell me you're lying!"

Natsu only looked down, unable to face her at the moment, he couldn't repeat the words that he just said, knowing fully well that it'll not make the Titania any good. Gray and Lucy had troubled expressions of their own but they were able to keep themselves from doing the same as Erza to Natsu since they got the message that it was for something important, but still… it was Jellal of whom they were talking.

"As you heard red-head, we were going to free that guy so he could help us in our mission." Literio answered in his friend's stead, seeing that the man he got to know as confident and fearless went to the opposite in front of the person he had feelings for. Asis remained quiet, not because she wanted payback for what Natsu did to her minutes earlier but because she understood that it was a private matter between the two people.

"Nova… Let's go." Kaki said uncharacteristically serious when he realize of something, putting a hand over the girl's shoulder and dragging her with him against her will with even more need when he saw that the situation was about to get a little worst.

"Gray…" Was all that Lucy said and she received an understanding nod from the man, both of them leaving the scene with the blonde helping Gray walk, the adrenaline of earlier fading and leaving room for the exhaustion of his combat with the dragon-slayer earlier that day.

"Tch, I'm out of here…" Both foreigners took their leave too, not wanting to stay there with that uncomfortable silence any longer than necessary and less if it was avoidable.

At the end… there were two.

"I knew it, the moment I saw you again I knew it; you no longer are the Natsu I got to know years ago…" She started saying sadly, sinking her head and dropping her arms slightly after everyone left; Natsu just continue to stare down, his eyes hidden from view and his body went rigid at the words she was saying. "The one who was so oblivious and childish, who gave everything for a friend and never held a grudge with anybody; the forgiving and caring Natsu I knew and… liked… is no more…"

Each word felt like a dagger stabbing his heart and the small pause she did before saying that she 'liked' him felt like the final blow, his strength was abandoning him and his mind was yelling at him to contradict her words, but, at the same time; a small feeble voice in the back of his mind was telling him… that she was right. He changed a lot, too much maybe, and now he was the opposite of his former self, no longer the oblivious and childish idiot; he adapted and grew mentally to endure the hardships that his travels presented to him. He was now cognitive and mature, if anybody did something terrible to someone he care for, he retailed with full strength and unforgiving wrath… and also… he didn't had a trouble with betraying his friends, if it was for a good cause that is. And now, the only thing that hadn't change was about to do it, the reason that kept him alive during his hardships, during the nights alone outside the country, far away from his friends and home was about to make the final move to give room for the new him.

"Say something." She ordered him, her voice giving the hints of cracking down. "Say something!"

"…" He remained quiet. What was there to say? 'Yeah, I gathered a group of powerful wizards and organized them to attack the council, free Jellal and save the world; oh! Did I forget to tell you that I was going to betray the guild and you at the same time?' And that wasn't the answer she wanted, neither would it be. 'It's not true, I was under a spell but it's all over now.' She might accept that answer, trying to find an excuse to make it seem like nothing happened and was still himself but he wouldn't be able to stand it… he couldn't lie to her and make her suffering worst… so, he remained quiet.

"Natsu…" He heard the sound of a tear hitting the ground. His resolve was weakening. "If you ever felt anything for me… Say something… Please…"

Oh god. She was begging him, how much could he stand it before spilling out his heart and soul? How much? Natsu trembled slightly after thinking about what he was hearing; he was making it worse now! Tell the truth, lie to her, remain quiet, it was all the fucking same! He curled his hands into fists and clenched them, restraining himself from talking or reacting to her words, not realizing that by doing so he was showing her something encouraging.

"If you don't stand lying to your friends, why do you do it?"

He stopped thinking at hearing her words. Why did he lie? He did it to avoid giving troubles to them but then again, he always got them into trouble before, and that never seemed to bother them. So, why did he lie now? The old Natsu would have come back without doubting it for a second and ask for his friends help, knowing that they would accept to join him if he was serious about it. But then, it was the possibility of them declining, sell him out to the council and forget about him… thing that he learn it was possible during his time on the eastern country. 'But this is Fairy Tail of which I'm thinking about!' The same guild that give him a place to stay, work and eat… that gave him friends, adventures, room to improve without worrying about laws or anything of the sort… and someone to love… it was somewhere to call home when he lost his.

"Do whatever you think is right! That's the way of the Fairy Tail Mages!"

His eyes widened. He was such an idiot! Fairy Tail didn't care about the council or breaking the rules, they just did what was best for their friends; be it against the council or the same people they tried to protect. Such an idiot. Wait a minute. If he was still an idiot then that meant that he didn't change completely! And now that he thought about it, did he seriously mature? If he had, he would have noticed that, right? If he was oh so cognitive then why didn't he notice that the girl's scarf smelled like him, and that the boy smelled like the magic he said he was able to use?

"Hehehe…" He let out a small chuckle out without knowing, catching the attention of the woman still holding him by the shoulders; she looked up and saw his face, a stupidly big grin and wide happy eyes met with a surprised face. Oh so idiot, he was still Natsu, and that was something that nobody would be ever able to change. "Sorry, I just realize that I'm an idiot…"

She looked at him incredulously, an eyebrow rising in question at his self-affirmation of stupidity. He just chuckled louder and grabbed her by the wrists, his eyes softening at his next words. "I didn't say anything because I was afraid of your reaction, of what the guys would think if I came back to include them into this plan of mine…"

"We… We would have listen to you and tried to help you or to find an easier way to do it…" She replied hoarsely, with her voice still affected by the past crying, what he already thought a few minutes ago; he let an amused laugh out.

"I know that now, that's why I'm saying that I'm an idiot, I thought that you would sell me out to the council or excommunicate me from the guild to save yourself from the trouble but I… remembered the old man's words." She looked blankly at him for a second, trying to remember what could have said the third master during his time on charge. She looked at him with a small scowl at remembering, glaring harshly as he closed his eyes sheepishly. "Yeah, silly me, I forgot about them…"

Her scowl deepened before she closed her eyes and sighed, releasing her hold on his shoulder and joining hands with his when moving them down; smiling at him when he smiled at her action and sharing a brief moment of peace; this was their real reunion. The idiot, gullible, oblivious, innocent, honest, carefree and destroyer of public and private property, the hotheaded and weird haired dragon-slayer, Natsu Dragneel 'Hey!' and the beautiful and strong scarlet haired knight, Erza Scarlet. 'Thank you.'

"But listen Erza, it's all true," He said going back to the subject and the questions she asked him. "I planned to weaken Fiore's guilds to assault the council's prison and free Jellal to fight this dark-one of the prophecy."

"I… see." She managed to answer back after hearing what she most feared, though, it didn't frightened her as much as before now that she had her idiot… friend back. She nodded at his words and released her hands from his, him pouting at the action but getting the message that it was enough. "But how do you know that he's a Dragon-slayer?"

"Asa told me that the last of the dragon-slayers we needed to gather, was someone who I already knew and that I fought with." He simply stated, looking up to remember the words of the farseer and dropping to sit cross-legged on the stone floor, the red-headed following suit. "I started to analyze each and every one of my fights and after some hours, yeah, it took a long time for me to get it; I remembered Jellal and the fact that I never truly got the chance to smell him right…"

"Smell him right?" She asked confused, he nodded.

"Yeah, when I first met him, we were surrounded by Etherion and during the deal with Oracion Seis, the Nirvana forest nulled my senses to a half, so I never got to smell him right; just a bit enough of him to know when he was close…" He finished with arms crossed and a serious expression on his face, looking at the ground as he thought about it and came to the same conclusion. "It must be Jellal, all of the others that I fought with I smelled them and their magics, so I'm ninety percent sure!"

"…" She looked down to think about it, if what he said was true then they needed to free Jellal and check if Natsu's theories were right, or try to get the blue-haired out without wagging war against the council. Though, even if it was one way or the other, it was still the deal that it was freeing Jellal, and she wasn't against the idea to see him again but… "I can't do it."

"Huh? Why not?" He asked sounding like the oblivious boy he was before his travels, hiding the fact that he knew what she meant but expecting her to trust in him and say it without him doing something to make her talk.

"It's because… it's Jellal… I want to see him walk free of that jail in which he is unjustly imprisoned, but…" Natsu frowned, he feared this. That she could still have feelings for the man was something he always dreaded and tried to forget about but it would always come back, for as long as Erza remembered her childhood, he would always be on her mind.

"Don't worry! I'm not jealous!" Erza choked with her own saliva at the statement, recovering fast to punch the guy next to her in the face with full force and hide the blush that was creeping over her cheeks. Natsu got up from the ground and rubbed his sore nose and stared at the woman with a scowl, walking back to sit next to her with an angry pout.

"That's not what I mean to say, but I… I'm not sure of what my reaction will be if I see him again…" She said finally, looking with some doubt at the floor while she hugged her knees close to her chest. Natsu looked at her unexpressive for a moment before sighing and leaning back on the floor to gaze at the sky.

"You still love him, don't you?" He said with no emotion whatsoever, but Erza noticed the slight hint of defeated that his voice had. She shook her head, not saying anything more or turning to give the man she was now in love with a reason to think of the contrary because she didn't had an answer for him.

They solved one trouble to found another one.

(Brammingtmont; north side of the city, close to the crash site.)

"Kaki! Why did you drag me here! ?" Nova was fuming at her partner's action, she wanted to see what was going to happen in between her father and mother but the idiot of her partner had to get her out of the place before anything happened. Kaki just looked at her incredulously, sighing tiredly before coming close to her and putting an arm around her shoulders, whispering his reasons.

"Tell me Nova, would you like it if they saw you and me in an intimate moment?" Nova blushed slightly at the implications of what he said and shook her head furiously as an answer. Kaki grinned. "Thought so, that was what going to happen back there and we were in the middle so… I did what I did…"

"Since when are you so perceptive?" She asked him while trying to shrug off the arm around her shoulders, failing miserably when he strengthened the hold on her with his hand grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him. Her blush spread to every corner of her face and she tried harder to get away, if possible, his grin widened.

"Since I met you for the first time… Nova..." He whispered her name sweetly and close to her ear, making the girl stop in her attempts to tremble at the chill his voice send down her spine. Though, even if she stopped trying to push him away from her, she remained on her spot, not getting closer or the opposite to him; preferring to surrender before the boy pushed it farther and things got out of control.

"O-okay, I got it now, so let go of me!" She was stuttering! Oh, the boy was having so much fun! He moved his face closer to hers and touched her forehead with his, whispering lovingly words to her with sad eyes; her eyes widening in surprise and her face starting to glow brighter than the sun that was above them.

"But I don't want to let you go… I want to be like this forever…" She looked like ready to faint while he continued in an even softer voice. "Nova… Stay with me, please?"

"…O-o-o-k-a-y…" He repressed the urge to laugh at her expense, finding her unbelievable cute like this and seriously wanting to do what he just told her. He closed his eyes slowly and relaxed, expecting the girl to do the same while he moved the arm he had over her shoulders and positioned it around her waist, his free arm coming from the other side to hug her completely.

After a minute of feeling her shaking at his bold moves, he felt the movement of her arms rising to encircle around his neck before relaxing and stopping with the nervous trembles she had; he smiled happily.

'Now,' He thought. 'To enjoy this moment…'

(Close to them.)

"They look cute…" Lucy and Asis said at the same time with small blushes on their faces, spying on the young couple from around a corner much to the guys' annoyance and boredom.

'Women…' Gray raised his arms in defeat and marched to check if Erza and Natsu were done while Literio just huffed at the girls' dreamy sighs and jumped to a close rooftop, wanting to check if he could see any sign of his friends close by or something new… but what he found though, was totally unexpected.

Jumping down and running to catch up with the ice-mage, he grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around, cutting short his protests or anything he was about to say at him. "The council is here!"

Gray stood shocked at his words.

To be continued

Another update! I'm on fire! Hahaha! xD

No comments this time, just a few lines that I forgot to add in the previous chapter and the replies to the peoples' reviews.

First, the replies, thanks my friends for reading the chapter and giving your opinion of it, some doubts of yours might have been cleared if you squinted your eyes until they were slits to notice the small hints. xD And sorry My humble friend, Nova respects him too much to do such a thing, though there's always Kaki to beat the crap out without problems. XD

Don't worry My scared friend, it happens sometimes that we fail to see some stories when searching for something interesting to read. So you're forgiven and you're not a terrible friend, not much terrible at least... xD And yes, we have a bloody battle ahead of us mate! And yes, you have bipolarity... u_u And that's not true! I received more help from you guys than the other way around! D= Good bye my friend, hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^^

Wow! New reviewer! Thanks for the words Warnolife! It means a lot to know that you liked the story, and that it resulted mind-blowing to you just encouraged me to write this chapter by depriving myself of sleep... ^^v Good critic, don't worry about not reviewing each chapter, you gave one review and it comprised the whole story in it. And the last comment, I don't know why it resulted confusing to you the arrival of the children from the future, but I hope too, that in the next chapters I manage to clear out any questions you or anybody has. ^^

And lastly! My someone-told-me-you're-crazy friend! =D Thanks for reviewing again NxE, I really appreciate it and as a thank you, I hope you liked this chapter. I tried my best when writing the romance parts, remembering how you write them. ^^ Hope it was at the level. =)

Second, now that the replies are over, time for random talks. Did you ever wonder how did I come up with this story? Well, that's a pretty simple question to answer, I was excited after reading NxE-Forever's "You're My Girl" and Toaneo07 Ver2.0's "¿Que pasó ayer?" for the 9th time of some day a month ago and I watched the FT's openings 1, 3, 4 and 6... Needless to explain further, I was on overdrive of inspiration and since I loved NaZa after...

Now that I think about it, how I started watching FT is pretty funny... and I'm starting to believe that it was destiny what made me a fan of this couple... It was thanks to my little brother, who was watching animes of my sister, that I never had the time to watch, while I had breakfast. He was watching the Tower of Heaven arc when I saw the anime for the first time and that was what made me a NaZa fan to the bone.

NaZa vein, My scared friend! Naza vein! Hahaha! xD

After finishing with the ToH arc, I stopped watching and went to my bed to listen some music, saying to my Little Brother that I didn't like the anime and that it resulted pretty much obvious and common to me... Big lie, I know... Hahaha! I waited for my LB to leave the computer and leave my apartment for about an hour, running to the PC when he did so and starting to watch FT from the beginning to the last chapter my sister had downloaded... I think it was the 61 at that moment... Unimportant.

Okay, enough sidetracking, going back with the original point; since I loved NaZa and already had NxE-Forever's influence, together with my translation of Chrono's "Inside Out" story, I started on this long road that it's writing stories for NaZa until the web searcher tells that there are 20 pages with results. XDD

Pretty interesting, right? Or was it boring? XD Whatever, I won't bother you each chapter with this kind of ramblings, I just wanted to tell the story behind "Knowing it..." and who were the ones responsible for its creation. ;D

Well, enough with the chatter. I hope you had enjoyed the chapter my fellows, 'cause I certainly did!

Saludos.