Relentless

Chapter VII: Investigation

Inside Natsu's chambers...

How many years has it been since that time? Natsu didn't quite correctly recall how many but somewhere around six or five years. The scarf Acnologia had entrusted him with was a very precious and dear artifact. He never wore it anymore; therefore the white scaled scarf was still in a very pristine condition, his superiors at the council, well, not really superiors as Natsu was an official member of the Fiore magic council. It was a matter of etiquette, sporting a scarf wasn't the appropriate way to dress, as Siegrain says. Natsu didn't like that time at all, why shouldn't he be allowed to wear his favorite piece of clothing? The rules was the answer he got from Siegrain, he told Natsu that they were council officials now and they couldn't stroll about clad in in-appropriate clothing. The times had changed and so had the rules, Natsu would have to oblige.

With a reluctant feel about the whole council thing Natsu did as he was told and put away his treasured scarf somewhere else, somewhere nobody would find it, or try looking. Feeling satisfied Natsu put back his scarf in the drawer he took it from, deep under the ever so growing neat stacks of unused shirts was the hiding place for his scarf. Having grown used to not wearing it, just feeling its oddly warm presence would suffice to calm his nerves. Shutting the drawer shelf, Natsu proceeded to his bed to lie down. A feeling of distress washing over him, what should he wear? It didn't take a genius to figure out that he needed to look a tad fancier than usual. Not really caring enough Natsu shelved away the matter for later, after all he wasn't to make his appearance till later into the ball.

In the midst of all his thinking a thought sprung up inside his mind. Wasn't the woman going to come over and 'practice' dancing with him? She had been acting very suspiciously around him for a while now, always trying to force her womanly traits in his face. Natsu didn't appreciate it, not in the least. But the thing that really interested the young council member was the fact that she had been acting this way around Sieg too, probably some months ago, when she joined the council. But in his head everything made perfect sense to why Sieg and Ultear were acting that way, Ultear was probably his mate or woman, he didn't care enough to get in to specifics, but now she is trying to act that way with him too? That pissed the rosette off; if she is Sieg's girlfriend then she can't fawn over him too.

Natsu kept fuming over the matter for some more minutes before his dragon slayer magic enhanced ears picked up the sound of footsteps, quite feminine and supposedly elegant footsteps, it was probably Ultear. The perfect opportunity had presented itself, now that Siegrain wasn't here he had free reign to act normally and not as innocent and unknowing. The steps were drawing closer to chamber entrances threshold, Natsu hurried over to his drawer and snatched up a random suit of smoking, he was after all going to need some help with picking out an outfit after the questioning. Females were supposed to be experts in that area.

'Knock' 'Knock' the mahogany doors wooden clang echoed through the dragon slayers chamber and hit his ears, she was here. Natsu took his time with responding, it needed to look like he was busy with something. After a brief while he responded: "Enter," As expected Ultear's slender figure trekked towards the rosette. Having on the same violet dress from the previous social dancing lesson with Sieg. In her hand, Ultear had a small porcelain plate with a variety of small cakes, or formally known as petite fours. They all looked delicious. While finishing her last bites of the pastry in her other free hand she proceeded to greet Natsu. "Thanks for waiting, my blood sugar got a bit under the weather so I swung by the banquette hall and snatched a few of these," Having said that the violet clad woman gestured the small plate forward towards Natsu. "Want one?" Natsu let out an inner snicker, it was funny, he hadn't at all waited for her in reality, but it was more preferable and gentlemanly if he did, so rolled on with that.

"Thanks but no thanks, you look like you are enjoying them!" Natsu secretly did want them, but he wouldn't admit it, not to her at least, not before he has cleared her suspiciousness.

"Ahaha, you are an amusing one aren't you, I really can't have many of these, I'll grow plump!" Ah, so that's what it was about, Natsu also did eat a lot of food, including sweets and pastries, it was a wonder he hadn't grown fat or worse, but after all his missions did provide him more than enough exercise than needed to keep his muscles.

"If that's the case I'll please myself with one then!" The question was if Ultear had done something with these petite fours, what if she had put a sleeping drug or something in them. As Natsu brought the small cake he had taken from Ultear's porcelain plate closer to his mouth, his nose started to work. Taking a small sniff off of the cake to see if it was edible, his dragon slayer nose told him that it was all green, no scents of suspicious substances were detected. And the initial sniff would pass as an attempt to smell the lush aroma of the pastry.

Natsu flashed Ultear a small grin and literally threw the cake inside his mouth and started munching on the sweet dessert, the flavors of nougat and vanilla flooded his sensitive taste buds, while being vile, Ultear had a good taste! His stomach wanted more, but his brain didn't proceed accordingly, Natsu couldn't just inhale the whole plate, after all he was in the presence of a woman. One of the many lessons of life he had got from his foster father.

"They are good right?" Ultear wondered with small smile adorning her face. Natsu didn't like were this situation was leading to.

"Thank you, but could you know help me with my dancing?" They haven't got all day after all, in an hour or so Natsu would have to present himself down at banquette with a proper outfit and a date, yup, Siegrain said that its more benefiting for the pink haired dragon slayer. As the media either will write about how well he treated his supposed girlfriend or they will start a lot of speculation which are false, but the masses of fans and admirers won't think so. But either way, Natsu's popularity will increase both ways. The most relieving part is that the girlfriend doesn't need to be real, but in reality only a dancing partner at the banquette.

"Mhm, that's why I am here," If the woman tries anything Natsu will retaliate! It was just a matter of time. Ultear on the other hand was in an awfully good mood, having a healthy small red tinge on her cheeks after eating the cake. It seemed her blood sugar was back up. While that was nice, Natsu wouldn't get fooled by her attitude, not this time.

"And while you are here, could you help me pick out a nice outfit? I really have had a hard time picking out one myself." The rosette said with yet another innocent grin, for his to work Ultear would have to think that she had complete control over the situation; otherwise the violet clad woman would suspect that something just isn't right.

"I will, it will be interesting what kind of style you fancy, Natsu!" this whole sentence oozed of suggestiveness, Natsu didn't know what Ultear had planned but it wasn't going to be pretty, that goes for sure.

In council meeting hall...

An old man was sitting alone in his respective seat inside the meet hall, as expected nobody was here, not a single soul except him. They were all down stairs at banquette devouring all the luxurious foods the council had to offer while small children starved to death in Desertio, he himself wouldn't take part in any of the festivities. Although he had sent an invitation to Makarov Dreyar, he was pretty sure the old fart had somehow snaked himself from the trouble of traveling all over to Era. If Makarov was here then he would perhaps please himself to an extent, of course! His thick gray eye brows were scrunched up together, the sign of great stress showing on his wrinkled face. Out of uneasiness the old man was relentlessly stroking his mustache which was in the shape of a small brush and went down to his lower lip. A strange maroon hat adorned his slightly rectangular face. There was three wing shaped decorations sticking out of his hat. His looks to say at least were unique.

With a very pressing matter on his mind the old man couldn't possibly calm his nerves. It was at times like these; Yajima regretted his application to the council. But he couldn't give in now, there were lives at stake here, it all depended on his plans function and success. There had been rumors about a suspicious cult having infiltrated the banquette that was one of the main reasons he didn't attend this evening. From the shadows he would rot out the people affiliated with this said cult. They sure had guts daring to attack the council's strongest bastion in Fiore. Gran Doma the chairman wouldn't take nicely on villains like them, they were sure to be executed on spot.

To be more specific the cult was rumored to not being from Fiore and the thing that was more interesting was that they had a reputation to be fascinated by dragons, and there was only one dragon in Era at the moment, and that was no other than the eleventh seat holder of the council Natsu! With these vital details, Yajima had directed together a plan, while being simple; it was a very solid plan. Yajima had suggested this very same plan to the chairman and he surprisingly too was wary about young Natsu's safety, after all he was the one who gave the council a new and fresh image. While not being a big fan of said image, Yajima understood why it was very much needed.

He and Gran Doma had used a death sentenced magic convict and put a magical photocell seal on him, in order to give him a more desirable look to the cult, namely Natsu's appearance! The death sentenced convict were to play an act to fool the guests and possible assassin(s) who had hid themselves among the vast amount of guests. Hopefully the assassin was to take the bait and do the deed with impression of truly killing the pink haired dragon slayer. But in reality Natsu was in his chambers, preparing to make his debut to the ball. This way the life of Natsu would be spared. The key element to his plan was Ultear, the woman Siegrain seemed to socialize with albeit too often. She, according to her magic profile used time warping magic, and was capable of freezing time and space for a very brief amount of time; of course she could also pick out the people it would affect!

But there were still a small detail that remained, and that was his role to fulfill, having asked for permission to use a form of forbidden magic from the chairman, Yajima could now use a spell that would erase ones short time memory, meaning that the whole event would be permanently forgotten.

Suddenly the hat clad old man's magical intercom was receiving a signal. It was probably Gran Doma; he was making sure Yajima had remembered to take his ordered position, which he hadn't yet. "Yajima-dono, are you at your destined location?"

"No, not yet, I am still inside the meet hall." Yajima didn't use any formalities when he and Gran Doma spoke in private; they had been friends since the early days when they both had applied to the council.

"Then please head towards the desired destination along with Ultear, failure is not an option!" With that said the council chairman ended the communication link. The problem that Yajima was facing now were the woman from Isenberg was located, well, if he had to guess she was at Natsu's chambers, Siegrain mentioned something earlier about him practicing his waltz.

With the course set on Natsu's chamber, the short former member of Fairy tail paced forward…

Natsu's quarters…

"Natsu-sama, what are you saying? Me and Siegrain, that's absurd!" Ultear said as she felt cornered, the female council member didn't always feel this way but when she did, it seemed to always be at the worst timings. Somehow the pink haired dragon slayer had figured it out, but the question remained exactly how? Ultear's composure was slowly faltering, in the middle of the social dancing lesson; she had decided to go for a small peck on the rosettes cheek. That's when things got hectic, just as small innocent kiss was going to land the rosette had sprung in to action and lunged at her. At first Ultear had thought that it was out of affection but the dragon slayer was outraged, he started questioning her, and accused her for things he shouldn't know of. While pinning Ultear down Natsu had proceeded to hurl many confusing questions such as 'mates' and 'mating' it was strange, as Ultear didn't know why he considered her Siegrain's mate? But what if he...

"You know I can hear you two!" It was as she had feared; his dragon slayer senses had noticed them, but when? Her curiosity got the better of her so she asked Natsu: "When did you...hear?" It wouldn't get more awkward than this. Ultear was pretty sure Natsu never have had sex, and with him asking the questions it was going to be very blunt and insensitive.

"Two weeks ago! I was at old man Yajima's place, then I heard you two, so stop playing innocent!" Upon hearing those words, Ultear was able to connect the missing dots to the whole picture! That Yajima, he always leaves his quarters when Ultear and Siegrain decide to get passionate. But why didn't he leave when the most recent incident happened two weeks ago? The fact that Natsu was present at his place spoke for itself, really, who had guessed the old man could be this cunning. This was Natsu had found out about her and Siegrain, and all he did was have some supposed 'tea' with Natsu. It didn't help either that Siegrain's room was practically next to Yajima's...

"Yes, okay, but we are not involved with each other like that anymore!" Ultear knew her words were a bit hard to believe at that moment but it was the truth, well, a bit altered but not too far from it. As they both never had anything solid in the first place, in reality Ultear had been manipulating Siegrain to consider her his trustworthy ally and therefore share the secrets he knows with her.

"Why should I believe you in the first place, either way your actions are wrong!" Natsu, who still was pinning her down, tightened his grip around Ultear's breast. The action made the dark purple haired woman let out a slight moan of agony; she still thought it felt good, which was strange. Natsu didn't have any lust full intentions towards her in this situation; he probably didn't really know where to place his hands in order to hold Ultear in place, that's why she let it slide this time.

"I am sure you have noticed that you find me growing closer to you over these past two weeks, have you not?" It wasn't pretty but I would work, Natsu wasn't stupid, he would come to a conclusion and figure out the connection between the incidents that had occurred. Ultear couldn't possible possibly put it much simpler than this.

Suddenly it all kind of fell into place for Natsu, what Ultear was saying made sense to him, his feelings told him that she was tricking him, but the dragon slayers mind had persuaded that she was being sensible. Natsu had thought that Ultear being clingy with him was a sign of her abandoning hers and Sieg's relationship, but if the words that were spoken to him held any credibility they wasn't emotionally involved with each other in the first place, but the question remained, why?

Natsu finally understood. With a firm voice and narrowed eyes he stated his final question: "Then why did you want to get close to me?" Ultear took her time with answering his question; she couldn't reveal the whole reason but only the small details.

As she responded, a knowing smile played out on Ultear's face: "Just simple curiosity, you are a dragon slayer but I haven't seen you use any of your powers personally!" That was very vague answer, the kimono clad woman knew that, but more than that was too risky to be able to say.

"My magic!?" Natsu was really surprised, was that the reason? His magic was a variation of elemental dragon slayer magic, that was all that he was supposed to let the people wondering know, including the other council members except Gran Doma as he was the one behind this rule, somehow letting people know that Acnologia was the one who had thought him his magic would give him a bad reputation, yet that fact was one of the reasons behind his entry to the council. "You know you can't…"

He was interrupted by the sudden outburst of abrupt knocking, who could possibly want to meet him now? Wasting no time with getting off Ultear, Natsu took a few brisk fast paced steps towards his mahogany door. Ultear on the other hand was not amused in the least; she had just been through a humiliating and compromising situation. The one knocking would most likely be the old mustache, as she had dubbed Yajima; he always gave her a strange look because she spent a lot of time with Siegrain. He probably was suspicious about the azure haired council member's enthusiastic view on the magic satellite Eatherion.

While Natsu opened the door Ultear had regained her elegant composure and corrected her dresses fit and smoothed out any wrinkles in the silken violet colored fabric, she could not after all look 'suggestive' as the old man will probably get some ideas about her and Natsu. As the pink haired dragon slayer was small talking away at door, Ultear used the chance to proceed towards him; after all it was most likely her that Yajima was here for if the plan Gran Doma had presented her with regarding Natsu, the kimono clad woman didn't at first believe that some random cult had succeeded in infiltrating Era, but one could always be wrong, she herself hadn't exactly legally entered Era either the first time, while that didn't matter at the moment, the fact that Natsu's life was in danger did. When she had heard from Yajima and the chairman that the cult probably would be after Natsu's head Ultear was almost going frantic out of stress. Natsu was one of her keys to salvation and she wouldn't see him wasted!

She didn't feel any guilt as she mercilessly pierced through Natsu and Yajima's little conversation, as with most other things she did, guilt was never a factor, almost. "Let's go Yajima-san; I was just polishing Natsu-sama's waltz skills" One of his thick grey eyebrows was elevated as an act of skepticism; he didn't believe her, obviously. As the shame it was, the words that Ultear spoke held the unfortunate truth with them. Yajima scoffed and spoke the following: "Yes that would be for the best Ultear-san." With that said the slender woman in the violet dress stepped out of the dragon slayers chamber, along with Yajima. Natsu was perplexed, this was so sudden, he had never heard of this supposed mission from either of them?! Striding out of his room and while doing so wrinkling up his chamber carpet out of haste. "Hey," Natsu yelled after both of them "where are you two going?" He got no initial response from either of them, Yajima kept his pace and his hands entwined behind his back as he took small fast paced steps towards what seemed the banquette hall. Ultear on the other hand used her hand to gesture for Natsu to follow her. The dragon slayer picked up the hint and the mismatched party of three council members strode towards the banquette.

The festivities had started, and the VIP's were arriving...

Crossing his arms in frustration the pink haired dragon slayer sighed, he Ultear and old man Yajima had been waiting for half an hour now, but that wasn't the reason he was mad or even frustrated, no, the sight of another pink haired man whose looks were creepily identical to the ones of his own. They had the same clothing, the smallest details in perfect synch, Natsu's choice of clothing was a navy blue coat, the small golden trimmings and details made him stand out from the crowds, it was his formal council outfit, the same one he wore on the meets with Siegrain. "I understand why there is guy looking like me, but how did you know what I would wear?" Ultear snickered at his remark. Well, it was a form of thought projection much like Siegrain's own, but with a twist, the projection was in reality a seal which suppressed the victim's powers null. The victim's body would lose its free will and get controlled by the caster. After all, it would be bad if a death sentenced criminal would have free reign in a high class banquette, especially if he was desperate.

"Natsu, you see, it's a projection fused with a real living man, like Yajima told you earlier, the man is a death sentenced criminal, and if he happens to die nobody will be sad!" Ultear simply found Natsu very amiable when he tried to puzzle together things with complexity like this, it wasn't his specialty that much was clear but he wouldn't give up, that was the best part, he was simply too cute.

"I see, and to prevent any further incidents you and Yajima are going to stop time and erase memories? Seems a bit farfetched, yeah? I though you're magic only affected non-organic materia?" Oh, Ultear was truly impressed with the rosette dragon slayer, he might not look like it, but in reality Natsu was a very good listener, he had membered the great time ark's one weakness.

"That is correct, but is time an organic materia?" It didn't take long for Natsu to answer.

With a snort he spoke: "No, of course not!"

"There you go; the answer is as simple as that!" Ultear was being serious, her magic was the magical incarnation of time, as long as other humans were inside space, or rather took up a part of the world's volume, they would be affected if Ultear stopped space, as time and space were connected. But the thing was that it only had a fifty percent chance to succeed, which was a bit daunting.

"Shhh, be quite you two, it seems it has begun!" Yajima was awfully right, at that very moment the big crystal chandeliers of the ball room lost their luster. Every other light source in the room died of as well. Yajima knew that between this window of time the assassins were to strike at the fake dragon slayer. "Ultear, use your magic when the lights are back!" Ultear didn't need to be told twice as a trio of snow colored magic circles with grey runes in the edges sprung in to action. "Time ark: Space!" The lights were back, but nobody made a sound, it was as if they had frozen in place. It seemed her magic had worked! "N-Natsu, it seems you will have to carry me back, my magic is...depleted..." The usage of such a wide range time manipulating spell, had left the time ark user drained of all her magical resources, it was to expected, as she not only had to stop space, but to prevent Natsu and Yajima from getting dragged in to the spell.

With no further incidents Ultear collapsed to the white marbled floor with a 'thump' she was still conscious, barely. Natsu was about do what the woman had told him but something caught his eye, as well as Yajima's for that matter. He was lying dead on the floor, his life essence was welling in between the marble tiles, it made his stomach turn. "Natsu, it's a fake remember that, will you!" Ultear chirped from behind, somehow she had enough energy to do that. Yajima was hunched over examining the fake corpse of Natsu, with his index and middle finger Yajima put his two fingers next to the fallen man's jugular artery. After a few seconds of tense waiting Natsu couldn't keep his excitement.

"Is he dead," Yajima didn't answer instead the old man shook his head "then what is the matter?" Ultear's breathing had become ragged; she was very close to passing out, yet she proceeded to enlighten Natsu of the situation. "Natsu, their aim wasn't to kill, only to cripple!" Natsu's eyes widened, not kill?! Then what was their purpose, were they to kidnap him?

"Natsu, you search for the perpetrator, I shall erase these peoples memory!" Natsu knew what do from here; the assassin couldn't have made it far from his fake corpse, after all time has stopped. As the dragon slayer maneuvered through the crowds she noticed a red haired woman, she was kind of hard to miss, as she was standing next to the corpse, literally a few meters away. She was frozen in an awkward state; with a drink in her hand she looked very shocked. She smelled of strawberries and metal. Taking a few sniffs as he walked up to her, she had a nice dress on, Natsu liked the onyx color. There was an amusing detail about this woman, she smelled a lot, and her scent was all over the place, as if she had been on the move…

But it didn't make sense to Natsu, this girl looked very relaxed, she didn't look like she was the assassin, she wasn't nervous, Natsu could see from her faces muscles, they were lax. Then why did her scent…Metal, it wasn't the scent of steel that Natsu sensed, but blood, the same blood that was on the floor. Which meant that the assassin was close, very close?!

"Yajima, I think the killer is still here, in this hall!" Natsu wasted no time with letting his colleagues know what he had just found out! Now he just had to sniff the killer out. The scent was growing stronger, the woman's scent mixed with metallic scent, he could literally feel the presence of the assassin, above! The assassin's scent came from above, if his nose had served him right, he was currently stood right under the killer…

The pink haired dragon slayer didn't move, he was frozen in place, just now a lone drop of blood had fallen from the ceiling of the ceiling, it splashed onto one of the banquette tables next to Natsu, with a thick splash, soiling the pure white cake that was standing on it, it seemed to be grand dessert of the evening, now not so much.

The rosettes pulse and heartbeat had gotten more frequent, his veins were pumping adrenaline and his excitement was spiked! Finally he would be able to say good-bye to this stupid cat and mouse game. With a fluid motion Natsu turned his head upwards so that nothing more than a pink blur was seen. But there was no assassin to be seen, well, Natsu hadn't eaten anything since Ultear visited, he probably was hallucinating or something!

"Natsu, we are done here! Let's go." Without further ado, Natsu picked up Ultear and walked back the way they came. With a snap of her fingers the spell she had cast was dispelled. Natsu had to hurry back to the banquette, as he was supposed to make his entrance fifteen minutes ago. While the rosette hurried back to Ultear's quarters, Yajima took a calm stroll back to his, things were about to get a whole lot complicated, with rogue assassin on the loose in Era, Natsu had to watch himself…

With Siegrain…

Why was that woman here, who in the world had invited her, it had greatly interfered with his plans for that evening, the woman was of course Erza Scarlet, his old childhood friend and love, well, not anymore, but the important part was that she was there at the banquette sipping on drinks and having minor conversation with the other guests, when she should be over at her guild! Now Siegrain couldn't attend and that would set him back in his plans to find new investors in the magic satellite Eatherion project. He could literally feel a new wave of headaches coming.

He hadn't seen her since that day, when he told her that all her friends were his hostages, they still were. If he was to show himself now a whole new burden would fall upon his shoulders, what would he tell her? As the Naïve fool she was, Erza would lose her wit and start accusing him for things that people shouldn't know of, which would leave him in an even worse situation. With no other choice left Siegrain walked back to his quarters, during his walk he kept brooding over the reason Erza was here, well, she probably represented her guild. That much was clear, but usually the masters come, not the regular mages.

The deserted corridors of the magic council were death silent, nothing but his leather boots made any sounds, all the personnel and other council members were at banquette, enjoying themselves. Soon the sight of his chamber door came into his sight, as the azure haired man casually proceeded to grab the door handle Siegrain noticed that it was unlocked, how strange, he was sure he had locked it shut. While carefully stepping inside, and looking for traps for any sort could Siegrain breathe a sigh of relief, there were no signs of any magical runes; one could never be too sure.

"Hello there, Siegrain!" That voice! Siegrain's eyes widened at the strangers remark, there was no mistake, it was her! Slowly turning around, Siegrain's eyes saw a cloaked figure, most likely a woman, her hood obscured her face from him, the lights were not on either, as Siegrain was too engrossed about why his room was unlocked to remember to turn them on. "Who are you?" His voice was steadfast but on the inside he was a mess, there was many men who would love to have his head delivered to them!

The mysterious woman didn't respond, she only proceeded to remove her hood, effectively showing her face.

The sight that was presented to him was something he wasn't prepared for, not even after recognizing her voice. The unmistakable crimson hair, the delicate jaw line structure, everything was according to his memory correct, she was Erza Scarlet…

AN: And the plot thickens even more, I am sorry to say but in the last week I have been very busy with real life commitments, thus delaying my fic update. I would also want to thank all my reviewers for their support, with Erza confronting Siegrain many things will get complicated and the partner ship with Natsu will be tested, exactly how, will be revealed in the next chapter which will end the banquette arc! If any of my readers have any questions regarding the plot of my story then they can PM me, as I will answer all of them.

I would also want to point out a fic that I have been following, it's called Phoenix of Fairy tail by shadowalkz, do check it out!

I personally don't feel like I am satisfied with this chapter, as it is full of plot build up, I will probably re-write some parts…

Err…pairings, huh? I am going to be honest with everyone and say that I am leaning on the Erza side, but I won't do anything regarding romance until chapter 10 probably, but I am torn, most of the reviews say Mira, and I will most likely do Mira...If anyone has any oppinions please share them with me in the review section.

Now putting that aside, I hope that the majority of the people reading my fic isn't doing it for the pairing, as that would be kind of disappointing, honestly. And no, Erza being the one invited isn't foreshadowing the pairings; she is just there to get Natsu involved in FT…Whoops, spoiler! But anyhow, I also don't think there is too much Natsu x Erza, there is more Jerza, when you search the filters most of the stories involving Erza are harems which I mostly don't like.

If you have any thoughts on pairings or anything else feel free to contact me, also if any of you have any ideas on how I should develop the plot, once again contact me!

Leave me a line or two, as it makes my heart flutter!