AN: you know that twin paradox dragon slayers theory going around a while back? i combined that with my love of time travel and of sting and rogue, and got this. might end up being a chapter fic, we'll see. inspired by miss mungoe.
This is what you recall-
A blond man kneels before you, his whole form crackling with electricity. His coat is ragged and his clothes are in rags, a scar across his left eye to match his right, a cauterized stump hanging from his right shoulder where they had to hack it off to keep death at bay.
"We've lost too many of our family," he says, gripping your shoulder firmly with a scarred palm before turning away to face the approaching onslaught. "Go on and get them back."
-you see him immolated in white-hot flame and dancing lightning, still fighting even as he burns in the night-
A blue-haired woman stands proud, black dress torn and back exposed. Countless bleeding slashes crisscrossing her body heal over as she takes a swig from a water bottle, from what little is left to her. On her thigh, exposed and bleeding, lays a blue emblem in the shape of a fairy.
"Auntie is counting on you," She tells you, wet tears staining your shirts as she hugs you both, the monsters only a few miles away as she lets you go. "Save our guild. We believe in you."
-her fluid body is steaming in the heat and she lashes out with a whip of water, face set in grim resolve-
A shirtless man summons ice to his hands, black hair dusted with grime and ash. His bare chest reveals barely-healed scars and fresh wounds, blood covering the dark symbol over his heart. He ruffles your hair fondly with four cold fingers and a stump.
"Make your old man proud, bless his charcoal-headed soul," he grins, standing with his back to you, pride emanating off him for his two nephews who will change the future. "We'll hold them off, now go!"
-he fires off another blast of ice as crimson blood oozes out onto wet dirt, fire in his eyes and frost at his fingertips-
A woman in chipped armour places a well-worn and well-cared blade in your hands, the bloodstains on her matching crimson hair. The battered blade clutched in her own hand fades away, another appearing in its place, a scrap of black cloth tied around her stump of a right arm.
"Never back down." She breathes quietly to you, an oath you both swear to before she stands to go and face the demons, a sword in her hand and a blade between her teeth, compensating for a missing arm. "Never surrender. Carry yourself with pride, because you are children of Fairy Tail. Never forget."
-her armour is in shards in the dust as she hacks and slashes away, steely-eyed, burning with desperate determination-
A man you know well holds you tight, metal studs set into his scarred face, shaggy black hair wild and held back with a tattered orange headband. Metallic scales creep up his neck and coat his torso, and you cry because you know you're never going to see him again.
"Stay safe, 'lright? Ain't a world worth saving if you two aren't there with us." He murmurs into your dark hair, soft and gruff at once. He kisses you gently on the forehead, then smirks toothily, knife-sharp teeth glinting in the dim light of the slowly rising sun, a chorus of guttural roars echoing through the decrepit hall, dust drifting from the rafters as the earth trembles. He ignores it all in favor of telling you without a shred of doubt in his mind:
"Get going, kiddoes. You've got a world to save."
The light of Eclipse shines behind you.
"No turning back, you two. Go kick some ass."
-you hear the screams of the monsters as they charge at your uncle, his prideful cackle, and the sounds of scales meeting steel-
You don't look back.
This is what you remember, as the world whirls around you in a blinding cacophony of light and sound and heat, when the only constant is your best friend's rough fingers tight around your own. Then it stops.