Prologue
They had to hurry.
She could be in danger.
Mirajane had informed them that Lucy had gone off on a dangerous request alone. Natsu knew it was more than likely his fault. He angered her and she stormed off but when he looked for her to apologize she wasn't anywhere. He told Erza and Gray and that was when they were informed.
As they ran, Gray tripped over a book and fell down. Not paying attention to if it was his or not, he haphazardly stuffed it into his bag and hurried to catch up.
They got to the location for the request, a man with a sinister smile and messed up hair the color of ash was laughing by a lake. When he looked at them and saw their guild insignias he just snickered and left. Erza stopped Gray and Natsu from running after him, pointing to some mist coming from a part of the lake. Gray and Natsu quickly ran and dove in. Only a few minutes later did they emerge with the soaking wet and freezing cold body of Lucy. They laid her down, Erza walking over while Gray frantically checked their friend's vitals and Natsu tried waking her up.
Erza was the first to notice. The mist that had came from part of the lake had come from Lucy's side- the side of her stomach. She had been bitten by something poisonous and clearly the bite was deep, it definitely wasn't from any snake she'd seen. Soon Erza and Natsu were trying to wake her up, get her to breathe, get her heart beating, anything to get her to show some sign of being alive; Gray would have joined them if it weren't for the book he previously picked up falling out of his bag and onto his foot. This time when he picked it up he noticed there was no title. He looked up at his friends, Erza was hiding her face in her hands and shaking, Natsu was openly crying while still trying to get Lucy to wake up; not wanting to look anymore, Gray turned his attention back to the book. When he opened it the first page had "Belongs to" on it but the name was scratched away and unreadable. As he was about to turn the page he noticed a number on the bottom, "435".
435 was the only page with something on it. Foreign- seemingly ancient- words were arranged on the page, in the shape of a star. Gray skimmed through them once in his head, and though they were foreign, they seemed almost warm, like they'd help or comfort him in a way. Looking at them he felt he was elsewhere, that Lucy hadn't died, that Lucy could be saved; And almost instinctively he read the words aloud.
The book shined, letting a warm light embrace all of them.
Time spun.
Something was altered.
Natsu was on a train.