Hello my lovelies, welcome to another AU fic done by yours truly c:
I'm not going to get into so much detail, but I will warn you of one thing: this fic ventures through present and future... a specific character will be VERY ooc in the future, but he has his reasons. So don't go bashing me... read, and you'll figure it out.
Also, for new readers who aren't familiar with me... hai :3 I have another fic, I Love College, that deals with a college AU theme. CHECK IT OUT :*
Btw, this is dedicated to my lovely best friend, Kitty Kat :3 Also known as 'a cookie for nashi'. Check her Bro!Ship one-shots, mk'?
Also, a special thanks to both Kat's (a cookie for nashi & ILAUGHATYOUALL) for being lovely beta readers :* I love you both, srsly yo.
Notes: Italicized paragraphs are the snippets of the past.
Chapter 1
"Dad, this is the shittiest dinner you've done to date." The fair haired guy stared at the sorry excuse for a meal, a frown appearing on his young face.
"Do I look like a damn cook?!" His father retorted, his head turned towards the direction of his son while his arm outstretched to place another plate on the table.
A girl with pink hair rolled her eyes as she exhaled, making her pink bangs dance, "Ugh, I should've done the food. At least mom taught me how to cook." She grabbed her fork and prodded the unknown substance.
"Too bad you don't actually cook, Nashi, and that's not even possible... you were six." The blonde guy raised his eyebrow, his frown curving into a sly smile as he saw his siblings cheeks brighten. "Say that to my face, you Goofy Goober! All you did was slobber, Iggy!"
Iggy guffawed as he shook his head in awe, "I was three, Nashi. That's what normal three-year-olds do. Unlike you, who spit out flames and practically brought down the damn guild with your 'smokey' tantrums!"
The said girl slammed her calloused hands onto the table, pointing at her brother as small wisps of smoke came out of her nostrils, "YOU LITTLE BRA-"
"HEY! QUIET AT THE TABLE!"
The two siblings piped down, their eyes widening at the sudden outburst their father had. "You know what today is... for your mother's sake, please let's just have a nice meal," Mr. Dragneel looked down at his charred steak and brought his fork onto it, slicing it carefully with his knife and popping the small piece into his mouth. His kids followed, and the sound of utensils hitting the plate filled the air for a few minutes.
"I wish I would've remembered her..." Igneel mumbled, and he breathed out softly and took another piece off of the steak. He looked up, a few strands of his hair covering his hazel eyes. His father was staring at his tall glass of wine while contemplating a response, "That's what picture are for, son."
"Yea, but I wish-"
"Stop talking about her," Nashi interjected, her head bowed low as she pushed the charred meat away from her and stood up, "let it go, Iggy. She's not coming back." Stalking off out of the kitchen, both men flinched as they heard a door slam. Mr. Dragneel breathed out a sigh, muttering to himself an apology towards his wife. Iggy brought his face up and looked at his father, a sad expression to his face, "Dad... maybe if I go back, I can try to..."
Igneel Dragneel flinched for a second time as his father slammed his fist onto the table, his hand turning slightly red as the scar running down his left eye seemed to pulse, "No. For the last time: No. Time travel is strictly forbidden and can completely ruin the present time-"
"Or make it better!"
"I FUCKING SAID NO!" Natsu bellowed, growling to try and fight back the tears that were pushing their way out. His sixteen year old son looked at him with a sour expression now tinting his face, before lifting himself out of his chair and towards the darkened hallway that led to the front door.
Pushing himself away from the table, Mr. Dragneel tried to grab his son's arm only to find air. 'He always was fast,' Natsu thought, as he heard his son's footsteps reach the door and open it out into the night. Looking at the three barely-touched plates, the middle aged man sighed again, blinking back tears as he brought his elbows on top of the table. "Another fucked up year..." he breathed, tasting salt as he looked up and rubbed his watery eyes with the back of his wrist.
"L-Luce..." the middle aged man whispered, before quickly picking up the plates and setting them by the kitchen sink. He flipped up the faucet handle and let boiling, hot water run, as he began to discard the leftover food. Using the noise of a running faucet, Natsu sobbed; bringing his hands towards the water, he cried even harder as the water burned his skin. The pain he felt was nothing in comparison to what he knew his once wife and already older children felt. He blinked away his tears and turned off the faucet with his elbows, his fingers and palms filled with blisters.
He turned and slid down to the ground, leaning his forehead onto a side cabinet as he cradled his burned hands as he continued his sobbing; I'm sorry Lucy... I'm so sorry.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Lu-chan~! You're taking forever! By the time we get to the guild everyone's going to be drunk!" A certain bluenette pouted as she lay belly-down on a pink-comforted bed skimming through her best friends most recent novel, A Sunflower's Grave.
"They're probably already drunk!" A muffled voice spoke from behind a closed door. Levy giggled softly as the bathroom door opened abruptly, with a blonde haired young lady stepping out into the room where her best friend lay. "Levy! You've read my book like ten times..." she huffed, as she bounced onto the bed next to her friend. "I know... but I just can't get over the part where Laurence figures out that Tanya has been leaving the sunflowers at his mother's grave, not Clarese!"
Lucy laughed, "I know right? I'm the writer and it even surprised me when I came up with that idea!" The said blonde brought a finger to her chin as she remembered that night, Natsu was gone for another mission and Lucy had finally earned enough peace and quiet to finish up the last pages... with a twist, of course.
Looking up from her reading glasses, the bluenette smiled: Lucy was wearing the lacy white baby doll shirt she had bought her and a pair of black shorts, her feet were warmly kept in white slip-ons and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail with only her bangs framing her soft face. "You're glowing you know..." Levy teased, as she sat up and winked at her blushing friend, "Natsu is totally going to be drooling!" The blonde rolled her eyes and laughed along with her friend, both of them getting up from the bed and walking to Lucy's front door.
The celestial mage flipped down the light switches around her apartment and shrugged, "I highly doubt Natsu would notice, he's too busy either picking a fight with Gray or running from Erza." Levy tsked, "You know that's a lie. Ever since you two started dating, he's all 'Luce this!' and 'Luce that!'... I mean, we all know about your constipa-"
"Alright!" Lucy yelled, her face turning red, "I get it! Yes, okay... He'll notice me."
"That's better!" Levy smiled, as she unlocked Lucy's door and held it open for her friend, "Now let's go to your party, birthday girl!"
.-.-.-.-.-.
It was raining outside, dark clouds circling in the sky and lighting up randomly as lightning struck. 'What perfect weather,' the young man thought, as he brought up his grey hoodie to his head and stomped towards the guild. He sniffed, catching a whiff of something burnt as he finally turned out of his home's complex; already knowing his pyromaniac sister was currently punching fire into the big oak tree that grew in their backyard.
Today was a bad day, in fact every first of July was a bad day ever since... 'don't... don't think about it...' Igneel told himself, as he squinted towards the blurry outline of the guild as it came into view. The rain seemed to get harder, completely shrouding the barely visible guild into a white mist. The blonde guy smiled softly, turning on his heel and watching a blurred figure of a girl coming closer to him.
"You can stop the rain, you know. You don't have to make it rain this hard to grab my attention... plus it doesn't really help the mood," he brought his head down towards the side, his eyes looking as drops of water fell into the puddle next to him; slowly, the drops began to come less and less before disappearing altogether, the reflection of a cloudless night sky being seen in the puddle.
Looking up again, Igneel faced a girl with dark blue locks and matching blue eyes; it was Ame Fullbuster, his recently turned girlfriend. "You could've called," she said plainly, before taking the umbrella that was once on her shoulders off, closing it and making a loud 'wop!' noise vibrate through the rather empty street.
"And you could've at least warned me of the forecast," he smirked before closing the small gap in between him and his girlfriend, leaning down towards her small stature pecking her softly on her cold cheek. He leaned away from her then, studying her pale face and tickled-pink cheeks, "I kind of enjoy it better when you're wet. You get that model-like look that makes you more appealing than usual."
She spoke monotone-like, just like her father, yet held truth with every word she said - a main reason why Igneel had fallen in love with her. She was only a month younger, her two older twin brother and sister being Nashi's age; apparently Fairy Tail members back in the day got pregnant around the same time, only Mira and Freed's son, Lance, being the eldest in the group. "Thanks," Igneel smiled, subconsciously bringing a hand up to brush the few strands of wet hair tickling his eyes away from his face before looking back down and back towards the guild.
Ame raised an eyebrow, "Iggy..." she spoke, an immediately Igneel turned his face back to hers, "Why don't you just go?" She knew well enough that today, like every year, was a day everyone (specifically the Dragneel family) could not bare. She also knew about the sort of magic that her boyfriend was capable of, using it many times before in the missions they'd go on together; Igneel was the only celestial wizard that could accomplish time travel, or at least used to be.
Time traveling was a very difficult process, a move that he had learned from the spirit Horologium. His mother was in the process of learning this technique before the tragic accident; once Lucy's keys were passed down to Igneel, Horologium resumed his teachings to his next master. Igneel caught on it quickly, and he was able to begin transporting through the dimensions during battles and surprising his enemies. The only rule of thumb was to never try to go through dimension too quickly - splicing could occur.
"Dad said I couldn't... he actually yelled at me and Nashi just walked out of the room and began burning stuff in the backyard," Igneel tapped his booted foot on the gravel, a small 'tap tap' noise being made. "After the incident that happened with me and time traveling... I'm not exactly allowed anymo-"
"That wasn't supposed to happen, I should've kept my guard up. I..." She had cut him off mid-sentence, but couldn't even finish her own.
It was their first long-trip battle, two-weeks together should've been romantic if it weren't for the fact that they were being watched by their fathers; 'bonding' time was just an excuse they used to not leave the two recently turned sixteen-year olds alone. They were in the middle of a battle with their enemies, twenty against four, and were surely winning. Ame was drowning a couple of men and hadn't realized that there was a man racing her way with a knife in hand. Seeing the distance, Igneel knew he couldn't reach to her in time to save her... which meant he had no other choice but to call Horologium and skip a dimension to get close to her. Ignoring his spirits pleas to only use this sort of magic for long-term battles, Igneel was brought to and from dimensions and was able to kill the man just before he could stab his girl.
Ame turned immediately as she heard an object fall beside her and a pool of blood trickle by her feet, mixing with the water. She screamed in terror as she saw her boyfriend covered in blood: he was missing part of his right ear and a chunk of his right arm, his pinky was now just bone, with blood dripping grotesquely.
Igneel clucked his tongue and brought his hand down to pull her face upwards, "I don't regret it, and you know I don't like you blaming yourself... that's all my father ever does." He smiled softly at her, the pout she sported looking rather cute on her usually solemn face. "Anyways," he trailed, "I don't want to upset Dad again and have him burn down the city if he found out I time traveled."
"But it's not for a short period of time..." Ame whispered hurriedly, her blue eyes boring into Igneel's hazel ones, "And you can change so much... I have so much faith in you, I know you can bring back the happiness." Her boyfriend frowned a little, a crease between his eyebrows furrowing, "the only reason you dated me in the first place was because I was sad all the time..."
Ame rolled her eyes and pulled her face away from his hand, leaving Igneel arm outstretched and holding nothing, "I did not. I like your smile... and everything else... Jus- just try it Iggy! What can go wrong?"
"Actually... a lot, If I'm not careful. I can alter our present," he spoke softly, a bit annoyed at the fact on how Ame only spoke lively when it dealt with this conversation.
"Well it's not like this present is all that great. Try it out. You know I'd cover for you if your dad asks. I can tell him you decided to go on a mission by yourself, a week long one," Ame was already walking, passing her boyfriend without so much as a glance his way and towards the guild, "I'll be doing that now, actually, so don't make me look like a fool."
Igneel followed her form as she walked farther and farther away, a single hand rising up to say goodbye. He shook his head in disbelief, his girlfriend always had dramatic entrances and exits; plus she always pushed him... pushed him to do things he shouldn't.
He looked down onto the belt of his jeans that held a small leather pouch on one side. Slipping his fingers under the latch and feeling his keys, he brought out a single silver one, 'but what if she's pushing me to do something I should?'
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Blow out the candles already, or I'm just going to eat the cake!" Mira whined, as she stared lustfully towards the chocolate-iced double-decker cake. Everyone laughed around her as Freed kiss her forehead softly, before whispering in her ear about her being more polite.
"Pregnant lady is right!" Gajeel hollered, a giant smirk on his face, "We ain't getting any younger!"
Lucy laughed as she tucked a blonde strand behind her ear and closed her eyes and wished, before opening them and blowing all twenty-three candles. "I GOT IT! I GOT THE PICTURE!" Natsu bellowed, running towards his girlfriend of almost a year and planting a big one on her lips, "Luce, I'm a photographer! Look!"
The said blonde laughed while the others crowded around her boyfriend's outstretched arm to see the picture his camera had taken: all that could be seen was Lucy's mouth shaped like an 'o' and the candles of the cake being blown.
"Well that's a shitty photo," Gray mused before earning himself an elbow to the stomach from not Natsu, but Lucy. "I think it's perfect," the blonde smiled, draping her arms over Natsu's neck and giving him a small peck in the cheek.
"Beer anyone?!" Lisanna called, to which everyone including the birthday girl and a few exceeds yelled an 'Aye!'
.-.-.-.-.-.
The rain had resumed again, no doubt in the fact that it was Ame's doing. This was good though - it was passed ten and already Igneel had come in contact with Rosey, Nashi's exceed friend, asking her to tell his dad that he'd be at Tetsu's house. Luckily, Gajeel and his father hadn't fought that week, meaning visiting his friends house wouldn't mean a total war. With the weather that was being displayed, Igneel's father wouldn't even consider going out to look for his son; specifically if he was in the safe arms of his friends home.
Making a beeline towards Ame and his usual make-out alley a few blocks away from the guild, he quickly reached the dead end and placed his wet back against the wall. He was breathing hard, a bit nervous about what he was going to do; the last time he had done this, he nearly became deaf and lost over four pints of blood.
He has a smile on his face as he trampled the enemy to the ground, cracking his neck in the process. He looked up to see Ame looking back in terror, tears filling her eyes as a pool of blood ran through her feet. Staring at her confusingly, he cocked his head, he could see her mouth open, feel the vibrations of her voice, but couldn't hear it properly. He saw a man with pink hair block the view of his girlfriend with his face contorted so much that the long scar that ran from his eye down to his chin seemed to pulse... 'Dad?'
Igneel swore he had said his father's name, in fact he could feel his mouth moving... but the noise? He couldn't hear a thing. Gray came into the picture too, a streak of grey adorning his black hair; he had ran towards Ame hugging her and pushing her away from him. Igneel looked back at his father, more confused than before until he saw the color of his father's face turn pale... his onyx eyes staring down at his son's arm.
Following his father's eyes, Igneel looked down at his arm or what was left of it. A large chunk of his right arm was missing, strands of muscles and tendons splayed out and the missing half splattered on the ground; blood tainting the ground. The blonde hair boy looked back at his father who was reaching out towards him with tears in his eyes, before everything went black.
He gulped and blinked hard, trying to forget that day. Looking down at the silver key, he held it out, "Open Horologium, G-Gate of the Clock!" A puff of white smoke appeared, and through it came Horologium, standing tall with an arm outstretched in the form of a 'hello'.
"Master?" It voiced, sensing almost immediately the vibe the celestial wizard was omitting. Igneel's lips formed a tight line, his eye's sad and wondering whether he should disobey his father's orders or not.
Understanding the situation, Horologium bowed and spoke softly, "If Master is unsure, I shall take the lead and drop you in a safe time period. I miss Mrs. Dragneel as well, and hope that with your help she can be returned." Looking up at Igneel, the spirit let his clock hands unwind and blinked once, "I will be dropping you off on the same time only nineteen years ago. just before your sister was born. I can hold you in this dimension for a little over one week."
Blinking, Igneel shook his head, "Nineteen years? But my mother-" the young man was silenced by a long black arm as Horologium spoke, "You shall be a fortune teller. Explain that you foresee a terrible future, and only they can stop it from occurring. The spirits will know of your existence, even if you are going into the past. Do not use your original powers since they will listen to your orders, and you will be caught."
Retracting from his bowed position, Horologium stood tall as he opened his door signaling Igneel to enter. Taking a deep breath, Igneel closed his eyes and made a quick wish before stepping into the Clock.
.-.-.-.-.-.
There was a slight breeze, the sweet air of July filling the lungs of a young blonde man as he stood outside the large doors into the guild he would call home in the future. It looked the same as it had back in his dimension, only perhaps a few cobble stones looking brighter than others and some trees missing.
'Beer anyone?!' he heard a woman's muffled voice call out, and then a symphony of yells of approval in return. Smiling, he was glad that some things never changed... perhaps it wasn't as rowdy as before, but Fairy Tail was always filled with drunkards and half-naked woman, which usually included Cana and her daughter Mila.
Slowly he brought his arm out, his fingertips touching the iron door handle softly and feeling the familiar cold nip at his skin.
'Natsu! Don't burn the damn cake!'
'But Luce~! I like it better when it's on fire!'
Igneel's eyes widen, his breathing momentarily seizing. He wasn't quite sure about the female voice at first, but his hearing was good enough to catch onto his own fathers voice, a little less gruff than usual but definitely his. And he said a name... a name that he heard his father whisper many times before a meal, or in a battle, or even washing dishes: Luce.
Not fully comprehending why, Igneel retracted his hand and took a step back, looking up towards the castle-like guild. Was he ready to see her face? What if he didn't want to return? What if... What if he found happiness right here? But what about his father? He'd surely notice soon... And Nashi and Ame? He couldn't just leave them.
Biting his lip, he brought both his hands up to his short hair and combed his bangs to the side in anxiety. He was about to take a step forward before the double wooden doors opened on their own and two lean bodies crushed onto his.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, cooling my cake?!"
"Who the fuck do you think YOU are for setting my pants on fire!"
"YOU HAVE NO PANTS, ICE-FOR-BRAINS!"
"YOU HAVE A SORRY EXCUSE FOR PANTS, FLAME-BRAIN!"
Both men were punching and pushing each other recklessly, while Lucy and the other girls had ventured off to the side to enjoy their cake... specifically Erza. Elfman was screaming for both of them to knock out each others brains while Max went around collecting money from the highest bidder.
Natsu went to give Gray a fiery punch, but was instead greeted with Fullbuster's booted foot to the chest. Flying through the guild, the pink-haired man's back hit the double doors and he bit back the pain; opening his eyes, he was able to only catch a glimpse of Gray's smirking face as he punched him straight in the jaw.
The force of the hit had knocked the double doors open and in turn knocked them both towards the ground. Both waited to feel the cold gravel hit their faces, but were instead greeted with a warm body as their cushion.
A groan went through the air and quickly both men jumped up and off of the poor defenseless victim. Looking down, Natsu was the first to react to the sight of what looked like a teenage boy with baggy wet clothing and a weird smell.
"Sorry! It's was this retard! I swear! Don't say anything to Gramps," quickly, Natsu brought up the dazed boy off the floor and onto his feet while Gray dusted his damp clothes. "Yea!" Gray exchanged looks with Natsu and back at the boy, "Listen we'll pay you kid... whatever you want! Hey, we'll give you a drink too!" Both were going back and forth staring at the blonde haired boy with hazel eyes, one of which was already getting black.
"Are you okay, kid? You seem kind of-" Gray started, only to have Igneel snap back into reality and look towards the man who would be Ame's father in the future. "I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen."
"You're a kid," his father spoke, and immediately Igneel sported a grimace and stared at his father, "Well you're twenty-three and are acting like a kid, so not much of a difference." Raising an eyebrow at the sly kids comment, Natsu growled, "How the hell do you know my age?"
Igneel bit his tongue, not even five minutes had passed and he was already screwing up. The blonde haired boy opened his mouth, but no words came through. Looking at each, Gray and Natsu stared back at the mess in front of them. "Who are y-"
"Natsu, what are you doing?!" a female voice rang through the air and all three men looked back towards the guilds front doors, three girls with folded arms stared menacingly: Erza, Juvia, and-
"Mom?" Igneel whispered, his eyes becoming wide (one beginning to close due to his father's punch,) and his mouth ajar: standing in front of him was an average height woman with the same blonde hair and hazel eyes that Igneel owned. Her complexion was soft and adorable, her hips curving voluptuously as her shirt and shorts hugged her frame; a belt was strapped in between the loops . She was as beautiful as the morning sun, once lost but now found again; Lucy Heartfilia, better known in the future as Ms. Dragneel.
FINALLY. I AM DONE.
I hope you enjoy~
I'm not exactly sure whether I should keep writing more or not... :F
P.S. Bare with the dreadfulness of the life I've given the future Dragneels... TROLOL.
-Ninaaah
