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 11: 'The council is here…' – Literio's news.
(Brammingmont; North side, crash site.)
Rune Knights entering the city, Council's patience running thin, foreigners and locals plan to defend someone whose determination is now faltering.
Does he want to be defended?
Which will be Natsu's decision when the moment comes?
Silence again; how original.
Unable to voice out their concerns, unable to tell just a simple comment, or even a white lie to pretend that everything was alright; when that wasn't the case, she was confused and he was regretting what he did so far, with now his choices being two hard ones that could change everything. Such pressure. Why did it have to happen now?
Free Jellal to save the world and later leave him to Erza so both can start the relationship that always got interrupted by the whims of fate, or free Jellal to save the world after he establishes his relationship with the girl at his side… which would not be right.
'Why did that idiot had to mention him in the first place! ?' He thought angrily, a frown settling on his features, his eyes staring vacantly at the now afternoon sky; it's colors reminding him of certain red-head and also of the girl that appeared a few hours ago stating that she was their daughter… theirs… 'I would like her to tell me what my future self, did in this situation…'
His eyes moved to look at the woman next to her; she was staring at the stoned floor with those sad eyes of her, making his frown softened. The girl was complicated in the way she managed her life, always thinking too much about the things that involved her and the ones around her. Why was she so complicated? Why couldn't she just say that Jellal was past history and that he was the real deal now? Witness a forbidden spell in action that brought THEIR daughter from the future wasn't enough for her? He sighed; catching her attention, moving her head to see him restart the talk after minutes of sharing that uncomfortable silence.
Not knowing what to say, he only returned his eyes to the scarlet sky and muttered. "What do you think of that girl? Nova…"
The question caught her by surprise. Making her looked at the same thing as him before giving an awkward answer. "She seems intelligent and… blunt… and…"
"And stoic and short tempered and prideful… reminds me of someone…" He continued with a small smile, which she returned. "Someone dear to me, that it's probably the one that came with the name for her…"
"What? I would never name our daughter like that!" She answered quickly, sending a glare at the dragon-slayer. He grinned at her, dismissing the glare with his carefree attitude.
"Sure? Because I would have named her Natsusa, not Nova…" He deadpanned, chuckling amusedly at the expression she made when hearing the name he was planning to give their daughter.
"Natsusa? Are you a dimwit? Who would be so cruel to name his daughter like that?" His chuckled turned to a laugh and he stood up to face her, watching her bewildered face and do the same as him.
"Well, someone original, funny, strong and idiotic… I can't think of no one else…" She narrowed her eyes at his smart remark.
"Sounds like someone that will be alone for the rest of his life if he continues to be so idiotic..." He matched her expression, grunting at her comeback.
"Oh yeah? Then what would be the name that a smart person would give her, huh?" She looked at the sky in thought; making the man tapped his foot impatiently when minutes passed and no answer came.
"Well, Erza seems like a fitting name…" He looked at her incredulously, almost bursting out in laughter again.
"And Natsusa is a dimwit's name? Please Erza! Come up with something original!" She frowned at his words, a small tick appearing on her forehead.
"What's wrong with that name? My name! It has history and it'll make everyone around her feel respect for her, not need to make fun of her!" His growl came back and a tick appeared on his forehead too.
"Her last name will suffice for that! So an original name would not hurt or bother her!"
"Of course it wouldn't! It'll traumatize her!"
"What did you said! ?"
"What you heard!"
Their faces were inches apart, eyes staring defiantly at each other until they noticed the position in which they were, backing away in less than a second with backs turned and blushes covering their faces. This was how their arguments would go from now on, with him messing around with her until she came back with a comment strong enough to make him mad… before both realize how silly it was the argument. Natsu stared ahead for a while, trying to regain some face to talk to her again, thing in which she was better and as such, she was first to break the silence.
"Should we call it a tie?" He spun around to look at her, surprise over his features, a smile growing after seeing her cross her arms.
"Yeah, let's call it like that." He answered softly, a playful grin settling to his next words. "Though, I still think that Natsusa is a good name…"
"Whatever, I'll not let you name her like that…" His grin widened at realizing something that both failed to notice during their previous arguing.
"So, you're admitting that you'll have a child with me?" She jumped slightly at the question, now getting what she previously said and the implications she made, a furious scarlet blush as her hair coming to her face and making her turn around to glare at the man now approaching her to hug her, much to her shock. "Nothing would make me happier…"
Her shock grew and her blush now spread to her entire body, trembling on the spot with her eyes looking at what was behind the man before smiling and resting her head on his shoulder with close eyes. "Natsu… You… mean it?"
"I would never lie to you…" She hummed sarcastically at his words, making him sweatdropped and laugh nervously. "From now on, that is."
"You promise?" He raised an eyebrow at the request, thinking back of the moments in which her trust was betrayed over and over again, and how that made it hard for her to give her trust to somebody when it was about these matters.
The sudden image of a man with an eye patch and turban asking him to look after her and him promising to do so came to his mind; making him nod and hug her stronger, burying his face in her scarlet hair, breathing her sweat strawberry scent and promising to himself not to lie to her again before promising it to her.
"I promise you… Erza…"
(Magnolia town; Fairy Tail's main hall)
Garret stood quietly in the middle of the room, meeting indifferent eyes with quizzically ones, Gildartz Clive and the rest of the guild found out thanks to a strange letter that he was part of the foreigners that were striking Fiore's guilds and now they were demanding answers from him. He was going to give them none though. His loyalty to the plan's creators too high to betray them just because he was discovered, he was thinking about a way to avoid confrontation and escape from the place, thing that was hard to do with so many magical bindings restringing his movements.
"Tell us and you'll be free to leave." Was Gildartz' proposition and even if the thought of telling them a lie seemed appealing, the silver-haired man knew better than to lie at someone who's skills were better than his… and let's not forget that the entire guild was surrounding him.
"I cannot tell you without permission of my superiors." His reply was simple but strong, he hold his own against the Guild Master's eyes and shook his head when some of the members that got to befriend him pleaded him to answer. "I'm sorry but unless Master tells me that it's okay, I cannot answer any of your questions."
"You mean Natsu, right?" The old man said uncharacteristically calm for this kind of situation, earning a raise eyebrow from the foreign wizard. "The council was right then, Natsu is behind all this."
"When did you learn of such thing?" He asked quickly, losing his composure slightly in front of everyone that saw him being of terse and calm demeanor. The image of the rune knights coming out of the Master's office the day he was introduced flashed in his mind; then they got the news fast. "I see."
"Yeah, so speak and you'll be free to leave." Again, some members urged him to talk and tell the truth, thing that warmed him inside; seeing how much those people got to trust someone when it joined their guild was something rare for what he knew of the world. He shook his head again, smiling at those that wanted to avoid any harm made to him and looked back at the guild master, his determination showing perfectly in his white eyes.
"Sorry, I cannot betray Natsu-san like that, unless he wants you all to know I cannot tell anything." Gildartz frowned at the words, giving to two steps forward and raising his prosthetic arm to touch Garret's forehead with his index finger.
"I'm happy to see that at least that idiot got trustworthy and loyal friends, good friends like you that when discovered didn't try to escape or hurt his old friends, but I must remain faithful to my word." The silver haired man nodded in understanding before closing his eyes in anticipation. "I'm sorry for this."
His finger started to shine and suddenly the main doors of the guild were opened wide, startling everyone and making the guild master and the foreigner look at the figure walking calmly to the center of the commotion. It was Gajeel. "What are you doing?"
"Gajeel? What do you mean?" The old man asked, coming to stand at Garret's side.
"I'm not talking to you old man, I'm talking with him, what are you doing? Didn't you get the message from that weak guy?" Some people started to ask him what he meant, some others understood immediately and the foreign wizard arched an eyebrow at the question, shaking his head in answer much to the iron eater's chagrin. "He said that the flame-brain is okay with revealing the plan! The others that went with him know already of the plan…!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Wait a minute and explain to us what's going on!" Levy shouted annoyed at the two guys talking like if they were the only people in the room, Gajeel looked at her with a quirked eyebrow before grunting in response.
"Nothing strange shorty, I was part of the idiot's plan that's all…" All of them stared in shock and agape at him, though for Gildartz it was nothing strange, the iron dragon was in fact a double agent in Raven Tail too and he was certain that the ex-Phantom member joined Natsu to spy on him. After shrugging off the questions threw in his direction, Gajeel looked at the Fourth Master of Fairy Tail expectantly, waiting for him to order the freedom of the man tied up with all kinds of spells.
Sighing, the old man told them to release Garret and let him explain what was happening now that he had free-way to do it. Sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, the silver-haired man crossed his arms and started telling them what he knew, earning more shocked looks and questions that he answered in order until he got to the end of the story. "…And now, it seems that Natsu-san wants you all to know the true; though, the reason of why is unknown to me."
"I see, well, that should be all. We'll have the full story when the Council finishes with that idiot..." To his words, Mirajane let out a nervous chuckle escape her, making Gildartz turned to look at her in question.
"About that… I'm not sure if the Council will be able to get Natsu…" Garret raise an eyebrow, Gajeel scowled and Gildartz narrowed his eyes, making the white-haired beauty shudder and chuckle nervously again.
"What do you mean, Mira-san?" Garret asked politely, trying to calm the mood that was settling.
"I kind of asked Freed and the others to intervene…?" She answered with a question, scratching the back of his head when Gildartz growled in annoyance and face palmed.
"We are going to get it bad when this is all over, you know?"
(Brammingmont; North side, crash site)
And the two left each other's arms and sat peacefully on the stoned floor again, small smiles in their faces when looking at the sky again. Natsu moving his arm to grab Erza's hand softly and give a small squeeze to let her know that he was there with her and that it would remain like that. Unless someone like… pretty much the rest of the group came to make them jump away from each other, understand people, they're sure about their feelings for each other but not about telling them to the others.
Looking questioningly at the two wizards, the group exchanged confused stares until Literio pushed Gray away in impatience and kneel in front of Natsu, the pink-haired going back to normal when he saw the serious face of his partner. "The council is here…"
Four words and the leader's eyes widened, going to look in Asis' direction before crossing eyes with the rest of the group; Gray, Lucy, Nova, Kaki, Literio and Erza, the last one staring at him in surprised for what she heard. Her eyes widening when she saw Natsu winking at her and standing up with a hand engulfed in flames. The man looking away from her as he walked a few steps in front of them with Asis and Literio positioning at his sides, the woman raising her hands and forming her magic seal and the blonde man engulfing his body in lightnings with a distasteful expression on his face for what he was about to do. The Fairy Tail dragon-slayer whispering just two words before Asis shot a barrage of spear-shaped air attacks and Literio powered them with his magic, surprising the others. "I'm sorry…"
"Air Magic! God's spear!"
"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"
Jumping away from the danger, the strikes clashed against the buildings behind them and damaged them badly, some of them collapsing immediately, some others shakily standing with their ground floor pierce through; avoiding the falling buildings and trying their best to avoid getting touch by the lightnings, Team Natsu and the two kids prepared to confront their attackers… or defend themselves until they got answers about the sudden change of sides. Though, shouts and screams of question were ignored by the three as they continued to attack the locals, Natsu just standing still on his position with his eyes looking at the ground and his bangs hiding them from view. Nova frown at seeing that, a simple jump above the foreigners with some twist to avoid being touched by Literio's magic positioned her at his father's side.
"Natsu, why are you doing this?" She said, still obliging to his order of not being called 'Father' by her. His body turned to face her, both hands engulfing him flames all the way to the shoulders before he gave a battle cry and charged at her while throwing a succession of kicks and punches at her with great speed, much to everyone's surprise. Kaki, seeing that Nova didn't do anything but avoid the attacks of her father, faced the blond man and breathed a long line of fire that became a large fireball with full intention of hurting him. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Making Literio jump to a side to avoid it, he took the chance and rocketed through the opening he made by sending flames to his legs; the blond was about to intercept him but when he tried to move his legs he found them encased in ice and glued to the ground. Following the trail of ice on the ground, he looked up and his face met with a hard blow made by a black suit-dressed man with tinted glasses that sent him clashing against the wall closing an alley. "You hurt my Lucy!"
And lastly, Asis, already knowing Erza's way of fighting, continued to fire barrage after barrage of air spears at her, changing to earth magic when the scarlet-haired sorcerer touched the ground, not letting her a second to stand still or get close to her. "Earth Magic! Rock pillars!"
"Requip!" In a flash of light, her heart-kreuz armor changed to the Flight armor, the ability of her equipment allowing her to move faster and dodge Asis' strikes without trouble, growing close to the foreign woman with each move. Asis bit her lip in frustration, stopping her barrage of air and earth spells when the scarlet-haired wizard was meters close to her, and quickly kneeling with both hands touching the ground; a light-brown magic seal appearing before sand surrounded her just in time to stop a slice from Erza aimed at her chest. The Titania frowning at seeing that her opponent was resourceful and that she hid this many abilities during their first confrontations. "Tch!"
"Sand Magic! Desert's storm!"
Before the S-class mage could notice it, a large wave of sand appeared from behind the shield and pushed her backed several meters, before she requipped to her Dark Wing armor and flew away before being pushed against a wall. Observing the situation from above, she saw Asis standing in the middle of the sand with her eyes fixed on her. Now that I think about it, I haven't described her, right? She was a woman of the same height as Erza, with black long hair tied in two ponytails running down her chest, dark crimson eyes and light brown skin, she was dressed with a long sleeved white waistcoat that had gold colored borders, white trousers going to her knees and matching closed slippers. "My name is Asis Suna, mage from the eastern country of Drakkar and member of the Secs Ashes guild."
"I see, you already know me, so let us end this!" Tightening the hold on her sword, she charged full-speed at her enemy.
Natsu continued to deliver a flurry of hits at Nova, not showing an inch of surprise at the ease with which the girl eluded his assault, though, he could feel her exhaustion; the one caused thanks to his fire induced kicks and punches, the heat was making her sloppier by the minute. Giving one last punch to her head, she avoided it by titling her head to the right and he took his chance at seeing her standing on one leg, quickly dropping to one knee and extending his other leg, Natsu quickly pivoted his body around, using the extended leg to knock away his opponent's leg, sweeping Nova off the ground; catching her by surprise with the move but being interrupted when he was about to finish her with a swift kick to the gut by the furious screaming of someone getting quickly close to him from the back.
"Annoying…" Was all he said before jumping back high enough to let the boy pass and hit his partner on the chest in Natsu's behalf with both of them clashing against the wall of a store, breaking it and ending inside of it; twisting in the air, the older dragon-slayer placed his hands together and did his magic's trademark move to finish off both kids with just an exhalation of fire through his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
An explosion and the building collapsed on contact with the attack with its remnants burning wildly, leaving the pink-haired with the dry thought that he finished with them and making him turn around just in time to see a set of long, curved ice lances coming fast towards him to impale him; he frowned at the move, already knowing who sent it, just jumping to a side to dodge them as he knew the attack was easily avoidable. Big was his surprise when the lances changed direction and followed him whatever direction he took, letting out a furious growl when he saw Gray smiling cockily at how he surprised him with that improvement of his move.
Literio got up from the ground and touched his face with a sole hand, withdrawing it to see blood coming out from his nose, he narrowed his eyes at seeing the damage done to him but shrugged it off and stood up. His eyes gazing with indifference at the new enemy that hurt him when he was distracted, a slight scowl settling on his face at seen the new fighter charging at him before he could even say something. A down kick to his head, he moved his arm and stopped it, moving quickly to grab the leg and use the momentum to send the spiky-haired man face first against the floor behind him. "You must be another of those spirits, right?"
"A-and what if I am?" The spirit asked angrily while getting up from the floor with both hands, glaring daggers at the blond from over his shoulder; Literio shrugged, not really knowing what change it made to know of that.
"Just curiosity…" Taking the chance, Loke (Yes, it was Loke.) moved over his back and rolled his torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling his legs in a V-shape through the air, later using his hands to balance himself and make a windmill series of kicks to the chest of the surprised Literio; finishing him off by standing completely and doing a reverse kick to his mid-section, sending the blond crashing against some boxes.
"I'm Loke the Lion and you made a terrible mistake in hurting my princess." He said while fixing his glasses and standing on a fighting position again, a determinate glint appearing through his tinted glasses.
(Brammingmont; north side, outside the city.)
"Lahar-dono! There are sounds of fighting close to where the unknown object fell!" One of the officers said to his superior, watching him frown at the words, Lahar stared at where the object from the sky fell and saw clouds of smoke, several explosions and a building on fire. Fire. That meant that the people they were looking for were there. Turning around to face his men, he raised an arm with an open palm and ordered them to move into the city before the fight ended and the objectives ran away.
"Move into the city! Neutralize all the mages and arrest those that resist or help Dragneel and his followers!"
Several shouts of agreement were heard and the men marched eagerly to the city through the main road, the black haired man crossing his arms while thinking about what it could be happening in there. Minutes ago he saw a flash of light over one of the rooftops, everything was quiet then and now fighting erupted, it was probably a feint… or…
His frown deepened, starting to follow his knights.
'Dragneel… are you aware of what could happen to your friends if they help you? Or you are just showing your true colors?'
To be continued
Update. Next one coming soon.
Enjoy!
Saludos.
PS: Yeah, not so talkative lately.