Title: Soldier of the Light
Summary:
Lucy vowed to protect her Guild, her Family. Even if she has to die by the hands of E.N.D, the person she loves the most… AU, after they have defeated Tartarus, War against Zeref happened, a titanic war between the Mages of the Light and the Mages of Darkness. But the Spirit King has a backup plan, one that will require the sacrifice of a single person to save the many.
Author's Notes:
First try on Fairy Tail FanFiction. This is a Time-Travel FanFic.
Mostly got from the Anime version but I will also add the Manga version as needed, so expect warnings like this chapter.
WARNING!
RATED M for blood (manga version) and other stuff in this Prologue Chapter.
After this, there won't be anymore of those. Or at least I would warn you again, if there is any.
Set on Rated T. (Tell me if I have to change it)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Mashima Hiro does.
Chapter Zero (Prologue): Lost War, Last Hope
Death…
Destruction…
A field of Emptiness…
A lone figure stood above a bloodied field, blood from the once friends and family of the figure.
The figure was Lucy Heartfilia, she stood alone with her head held low. Her eyes covered by her hair but it did nothing to hide her tears.
Rain begun to pour but she made no motion to leave. The rain seemed to break all of her self-control and made her broke down crying. There was a brief flash of golden light and Lucy's spirits namely Taurus, Lyra and Plue came to give her their support.
Plue let himself be hugged by Lucy while Taurus gently pats her back. Lyra sang a song of goodbye which made Lucy cry harder but Lyra didn't stop. She knew that making Lucy pour her heart now would be much better than later.
After an hour of crying, Lyra suggested to put a grave marker which Taurus gladly did by cutting trees while Lucy and Plue went to look for some things to add on grave. Lyra stayed and looked around the destruction before her.
There was a large amount of destruction but…
There were no bodies.
After a few minutes of looking around, Lucy found some things which made her cry. Lucy found a necklace, a broken sword, a burnt scarf and a piece of green cloth. Plue found a flag with Fairy Tail's symbol on it.
Lucy returned and found that Cancer has changed with Taurus. There were unused wood in a pile but the design of the grave marker is what got her attention. The design is simple; it has four spiral pillars surrounding a middle rectangular pillar, it is also surrounded by steps. The middle pillar is split in two with the middle part has a spherical hole. Inside the hole was a glowing golden light, Celestial magic.
There was no symbol on the grave marker because it was for everyone, it wasn't only Fairy Tail who fought and lost in the war.
Lucy was informed that Cancer changed with Taurus to design the grave marker. Cancer also said that the design was based on the First master of Fairy Tail's grave.
After informing Lucy, all her spirits, including the ones she got from Yukino, came out of their gate through their own powers and the Spirit King's (for Aquarius and the Silver Key Spirits). They all stood behind her, letting Lucy say her silent goodbye.
A few more minutes of kneeling and praying at the grave, Lucy stood up and did the L sign of Fairy Tail, her spirits did the same. The rain stopped completely and rays of light begun to pour onto the land, some of it shone over the grave.
"Let's go, Princess", Virgo said with gentle and caring voice, which she didn't have before.
"Everyone is waiting", Lyra offered her hand with Virgo.
"Punn~ Punn~", Plue added.
Lucy smiled and accepted their hands. A brief flash of light covered the area and they were gone, back to the Celestial Spirit World.
"So… There was a survivor."
A man stood silently over the grave. After a few moments, he smiled, one that is hopeful and serene.
"Perhaps there is still 'Hope'."
Location: Celestial Spirit World
After returning to the Spirit Realm, Lucy was a wreck. She had hollowed eyes, cold and dead yet somewhere deep within all that despair, was a fire, a bright fire that it would have burned her enemies should it take physical form. She still had 'Hope'; she is 'Hope' itself as said by the Spirit King himself.
Lucy willed herself to live, no matter how hard it is, she will persevere to save her family and love ones.
Not far away from Lucy was Loke. Loke signed for the umpteenth time since his hasty recovery. He was Lucy's most loyal spirit and special friend. He swore that he would always be by her side, but right now all he could do was stay and watch. He, who Lucy trusts the most, was the cause for her survival and her great amount of pain. He sighed once again as he remembered what lead to Lucy's salvation.
[Flashback:]
The Spirit King stood, unmoving in the Great Hall of the Spirit Palace. He silently watches over the battle that was ensuing in the Human Realm. He stood watching, pondering on a decision that has to be made;
'Save Lucy or Not'
As a spirit and a ruler of an entire realm, it was a decision he would not normally make. Human realm and Spirit realm have their own rules to follow but Lucy is… 'Special'. Lucy was a capable mage, summoning him even with the price she had to pay, was the proof of that. The Spirit King knew that time was running out and the decision has to be made, but before he could ponder more, the decision was made for him.
"My King, Crux has found some relevant data that you were looking for. Some spirits have begun to help Crux in searching and now more related data is being compiled as we speak", Horologium announced as soon as he was near the Spirit King.
The Spirit King nodded in affirmation to Horologium and turned towards Loke who was confused at the announcement.
"Leo, my old friend, I hereby order you to retrieve Lucy Heartfilia and bring her here", the Spirit King commanded.
Leo/Loke bowed and was about to do as commanded when the words sink into his mind.
"Wha-? Wait, Spirit King. I am really grateful for the command but Lucy cannot just leave her family and I know Lucy would not want to either", Leo/Loke began to argue but was stopped immediately by the Spirit King.
"Leo, I know that this is hard for you and especially for Lucy but it must be done. Lucy is our only hope to win this war", the Spirit King said.
"Only hope? What do you mean? Please Spirit King, give me an explanation", Leo/Loke pleaded.
"Time-travel, my old friend, we found some evidence that we could send a celestial mage back in time using a Time Portal made by us spirits. We do not have to make use of the humans Eclipse Gate", the Spirit King finished his explanation with a smirk.
Leo/Loke was stunned, he was speechless. He knew what the Spirit King was implying and it help made up his mind to focus on the task he was order to do.
"As your command, I will bring Lucy here as fast as I could", Leo/Loke said with determination.
"Go forth, Leo and save Lucy!" the Spirit King commanded.
Location: Earth Land
Leo/Loke even though he wasn't fully healed, immediately went to the human world, but there was interference all over the battlefield. When he got out of his gate, he saw that he was in the command centre of the Light Guilds.
But Loke cannot concentrate on his surroundings; he has a mission to do. He saw both Master Mavis and Master Makarov commanding the field using the giant Archive magic in the middle of the room. There was also various 'telepaths' and other support mages here and there running around to help maintain the archive magic.
Loke saw that the Light Guilds are losing ground and are being pushed back. Noticing the severity of the situation, he called out to both master; "Master!"
"Loke! I thought you were badly injured?" Master Makarov went to the kneeling spirit who was obviously pushing himself to say something important to them.
"Sorry master, I still am injured but I don't have to go into all the details. Masters, we spirits have a plan. We found out that we could sent a celestial mage back in time", Loke hurriedly said but he was heard by everyone on the room.
Everyone was stunned; even master Mavis that she almost dropped her magic that was fueling the 'telepathy' mages.
Both Masters immediately knew what Loke was implying. They looked at each other and knew that this was their only chance. Without any hesitations they gave the command to all mages in the room to focus and reach everyone that was on the battlefield.
Grim resolve enveloped everyone on the room; they knew that they were losing and that they were only delaying their deaths. If they were going to die anyway, they will go and help save their 'Hope'. A connection was made to all surviving Light mages on the battlefield.
"Listen up you brats! A Hope has risen! But we will die here today! Lucy has been excluded from this telepathy because she is that 'Hope'!"
"A plan like the Eclipse Gate was devised on the Spirit Realm, so your order is simple! 'Protect Lucy with your lives'!"
"Protect her till she reaches our command centre where a stable portal to the Celestial Spirit World is ready!" Master Makarov commanded with all his Might and Determination.
"Aye Sir!" exclaimed Happy.
"AYE SIR!" everyone else replied with vigour that shook the air.
At the same time Master Makarow was giving his order to everyone, Lucy was being contacted by Master Mavis, who told her that everyone else was getting the same orders.
She heard Happy acknowledge the order with, "Aye Sir!"
She too acknowledged, "AYE SIR!"
As soon as they acknowledged the order, everyone began converging on the path towards the command centre. They have begun taking defensive positions with grim determinations.
Team Natsu plus Jellal and Meredy began moving towards the command centre with Lucy in the middle of the encirclement.
"Wha-?" Lucy was about to ask what they were doing when the shouts cut her off.
"Kill them!"
"Don't let them escape!"
The Dark mages and Demons of Zeref charged.
"Stop them!"
"AYE SIR!"
Light mages braced themselves and met the incoming wave of enemies with fulfilled expressions.
Lucy is confused as to what was happening. She looked at everyone and the people they pass by and found them all with grim expressions. But whenever they would see her passing by or looking at them they would always give her a serene smile, a serene smile of a person who have found their purpose. A voice interrupted her thoughts,
"Lucy, concentrate on going back to the command centre."
"Master Masvis… Yes Ma'am", Lucy replied.
Lucy knew that this was some sort of plan and complied with it. She ignored a weird feeling in her gut that something bad was about to happen and continued to run towards the base.
They continued to run towards the command centre and Happy was not a happy cat at the moment. He would have flown towards the command centre if not for the enemy's demon flyers and mage sharp shooters.
The demon flyers were able to kill both Frosh and Lector. The two was helping in the transportation of the injured when they got attacked. Needless to say that both of their dragon slayers were enraged to the point they were able to halt the enemy advance long enough for the defences to be up and running.
Both Sting and Rogue was injured from their rampage but were able to return to the defence line before being dragged by Yukino and Minerva to the medical station.
Happy was on Natsu's shoulder as they ran full speed, but enemies began to appear behind them and to their sides.
"Teleportation magic!", Jellal exclaimed, he was then engaged by several dark mage and mid-level demons.
"Jellal!" Erza shouted but continued to running while looking back to Jellal.
They could only look and run in horror as the demon began tearing Jellal apart, but he would not go down just like that. He activated a self-destruction rune on his body.
"I love you, Erza…" Jellal proclaimed just before the explosion happened taking as many enemies as he could.
"Forward!" Erza cried out as she tried to stop her tears from spilling out.
"Aye Sir!" everyone on the group cried out as well.
The group have to divert a few times when they saw enemies on their way. They couldn't afford to fight without risking Lucy.
On the way, they met Juvia, who was now the sole survivor of her group.
"Lyon…" Gray said in a low voice as he saw Lyon's body, or what's left of it.
Juvia wasn't any better when her group was attacked by an 'Anti-Element Specialist Demons'.
They were about to continue running when new enemies popped out of the ground, effectively making the group stumble and fell down. Lucy fell down with her head hitting the ground. This made her disoriented that she couldn't see the dark mage going after her.
Blood flew into the air.
Meredy has used herself as a shield and took the attack to her heart, her blood spray on the ground and on Lucy's hands.
"Erza! Natsu! Get her out of here! NOW!" Meredy shouted just as she exploded into magic swords that impaled all the surrounding enemies.
Lucy was shock at the death of Meredy in front of her that she was unable to think or move. Natsu grabbed her from the ground and carried her bridal style; they were closely followed by Erza and Happy who was flying low with them.
Gray stayed behind with Juvia since she can no longer run with the group. Gray opts to stay with her one last time. Both Juvia and Gray nodded towards the remaining people of the group who were looking at them while running away. They both 'smiled' at Lucy before a house crashed and blocked the view.
The enemies begun gathering around Juvia and Gray, knowing this was the end for them; they hugged each other and begun merging their magic for a unison raid.
"I love you, Gray-sama", Juvia confessed to Gray while tears flow from her eyes.
"Sorry for not accepting you sooner; I love you too, Juvia", Gray apologized and gave Juvia one last parting gift, a kiss filled with his feelings.
The Unison Raid of a 'pure water elemental mage and an ice devil slayer', empowered by their feelings for each other produced a beautiful tower of ice. The tower was made of ice flowers at the way to the top, which is also made of lotus shaped flower. The tower also has an area effect of freezing anything within it, anything left in the area was enemies, and all are frozen solid.
Lucy watched the whole thing with numbed shock. She finally understood what was happening, but could do nothing anymore. All her friends, her family and people from other guilds gave their lives for her. Everything was for her to safely reach the command centre, for a purpose that she doesn't know.
Lucy could only cry silently as they near the command centre but before they could, the 'Elite Demons of Zeref – the Nine Demon Gates' blocked their way. The demons were more mindless than before, indicating them to be just copies of the previous demons.
They began to shift forward until they hit a full blown sprint towards the base; Erza pushed all enemies away from the group before stopping to face them all.
A battle ensued but they weren't able to know anything anymore as they reached the base.
The base was destroyed.
All that stood was Sting and Rogue, or their bodies. They died standing against their enemies while trying to protect everyone inside the base. The trio all stood silently as they took in their surroundings.
They cannot say anything; they just walk and look around until they came face to face with the enemy who started the war, 'Zeref'.
Zeref said nothing as the copies of Master Jose, Master Ivan and Master Hades came in front of him.
At that moment both Master Mavis and Master Makarov appeared in front of Lucy, Happy and Natsu.
They all silently looked at one another before the three Dark Masters moved to the left and disappeared; Master Makarov also disappears into the direction of the Dark Masters.
Master Mavis took Lucy's right hand along with Happy's left hand and disappeared towards the underground vault of Fairy Tail.
Natsu roared in righteous fury against Zeref and the world exploded in flames.
Happy appeared on the room where Loke is still stabilizing the portal towards the Celestial Spirit World. Happy said nothing as he approached Loke who nodded at him. Happy was then asked to help Loke in finishing the portal.
Lucy and Mavis reappeared in front of a large door. Lucy looked at Master Mavis who nodded at her to prepare herself. Lucy took a deep breath and nodded back indicating she was ready. But as the door fully open;
Lucy's breath was immediately taken from her, but before she could even recover from the shock of what she was seeing, Master Mavis was already in front of her.
"Lucy, this is 'Lumen Histoire'. All of this, all of me will be yours", Master Mavis calmly proclaimed as she gather all her powers and started making magic circles all around Lucy. She immediately cut Lucy off before she could even say anything.
"Lucy, this is Fairy Tail's 'Light'. You may not be able to use everything that I'm going to give you but it will at least give you an edge when you get back. This will also help you be trusted by Master Makarov", Master Mavis pause to let some it sink into Lucy's mind before continuing.
"How you intend to change the future will be up to you, Lucy. Forgive me, for giving you such a huge burden", Master Mavis lower her head in shame at what she was about to do.
Lucy said nothing, but she gave Master Mavis a hug, one filled with feelings of acceptance and determination. Lucy accepted the responsibility and she would die to see it accomplished.
"Thank you, Lucy", Master Mavis said one last time as she dissolve into the magic circles that glowed and activated.
Strangely, Lucy felt no pain, only warmth that was Mavis and before it all disappeared Lucy heard a childish giggle one that would echo through heart her and to those she loves and cherish.
Lucy woke up to see both Happy and Loke over her both have worried expressions on their face.
"Lushi, are you okay?" Happy asked, concerned about her well-being.
"I'm okay, Happy. Thank you", Lucy gave Happy a pat on the head.
"Lucy, the portal will be ready momentarily", Loke reported the status of the portal.
"Loke… I see, thank you", Lucy replied and flashed Loke a smile.
Happy saw a gun poked out of the wall behind Lucy, knowing that he wouldn't be able to push Lucy out of the way; he took the hit for her.
* Bang! *
Loke immediately ran towards the wall where the dark mage is and punched it, his magic flailing madly at what could have been the end of their hope and for the death of Happy.
"Happy…" Lucy could only say it softly as she watches one of her 'precious people' die in her hands.
"Lushi… Let's… be… part..ners… aga..in.. pleash…" Happy stuttered out as his eyes began to close.
"I will Happy, I promise and Celestial Mages don't break their promise", Lucy promised and she would fulfil it.
Happy smiled one last time as he completely closed his eyes.
Loke could only watch as Lucy gently put a flower and a fish on Happy's arms. He held out his hand which Lucy took to pull herself up from the ground. He nodded to Lucy to go inside the finished portal.
Lucy and Loke looked behind one last time before they entered portal, just in time before a wave of death hit everything on Earth Land, killing every living thing on Earth Land.
[End of Flashback]
Location: Celestial Spirit World
After they entered the Spirit Realm, Lucy was immediately given care by Virgo, Aries, Lyra and Capricorn. The remaining spirits were told to prepare to leave, they were going back to Earth Land in a few hours to help Lucy say her final goodbyes to a timeline that will never come to pass once she alter their past.
After their visit to Earth Land, Lucy was given a week to rest. From then on Lucy just went to helping Crux in his research even though she was told to rest, Lucy just countered saying that she was just reading books and not really doing anything heavy.
Great many things happened to Lucy after her rest; now, after almost a year of being in the Celestial Spirit Realm, they were finally ready.
"Lucy, are you ready?" the Spirit King asked.
"As ready as I can be; especially after knowing that all of you will die just to open the 'Time Portal' for me", Lucy replied with an edge on her voice, clearly still upset that more of her precious people will die for her. But she knew that it had to be done, there was no other choice.
"Again, I sincerely apologize that it has come to this. I am terribly sorry for pushing all the responsibility to you" the Spirit King sincerely apologize at the terrible cost of the plan, but it was all to save everyone and finally end Zeref once and for all.
"Okay… I guess I'll be seeing all of you on the other side or the past side thing" Lucy said unsure which term is better suited but it did cause all her spirits to chuckle.
"Goodbye, Lucy." The Spirit King along with some spirit said goodbye.
"Hey! I learned from someone that if you want to meet someone again, you don't say 'Goodbye', you say 'See you", Lucy exclaimed loudly that she startled everyone on the assembly. Her eyes burned with determination, she wanted to meet them again because she just loves them so much.
The Spirit King and every spirit in the assembly wiped their tears and grinned. They would all smile; this was not a goodbye but a new chapter for all of them. They all embrace it as did Lucy.
"Now, that's more like it. Okay, we are all ready. Let's do this!" Lucy rallied all their emotions hoping that it will be enough to help support her as well.
"AYE SIR!"
Golden light begun engulfing Lucy, she could see that almost all the Silver Key Spirits were gone in an instant. Another surge of golden light flew towards her as a portal began opening above her.
More powerful magic begun filling her as the Golden Keys began dissolving; more magic entered her being as they try and propel her towards the portal, they succeeded in levitating her from the magic circle of runes and magic lacrimas.
The last was a pure white light that began dancing around her, they slowly but surely enters her soul as they push her into the portal.
Lucy was entering the portal when she heard the Spirit King proclaimed;
"Star of Light, Last Hope of a soon to be a forgotten time.
You are a survivor, the living yet dead.
You are the soldier that will smite at the darkness.
You are the 'Soldier of the Light'."
"Parts our souls are yours, use it to protect your love ones and everyone. But be warned, everything has its own prize."
Lucy just smiled, completely expecting it. She would save her family, her friends, her loves ones and everyone, no matter the cost; even if it cost her own life.
To Be Continued…