Disclaimer:I don't own Fairy Tail. I only own my imagination and my story.
"Yukino!" Lucy exclaimed. But alas, her reaction on seeing the other celestial spirit mage received no response from said person and her companion.
'What did he mean by defeating Zeref?' all of the mages pondered over the words spoken by the man wearing shining armour.
Gajeel, who was not very patient by nature, decided to not to beat around the bush anymore and asked directly "Who are you?"
The man with the armour smirked before answering "My name is Arcadios and I am the leader of the Holy Ouka Knights from the Fiore army stationed in Crocus."
"I am the temporary sergeant, Yukino Agria of the same group." the lovely woman beside him said.
The answers from the newcomers ignited several thoughts from the mages of Fairy Tail.
'Why are the army here?'
'Wasn't she part of Sabertooth?'
Happy was the one who voiced his question aloud, "You said you could stop them, right?"
"Yes, exactly?" Arcadios replied to the blue exceed. Seeing their faces still full of distrust, he started explaining in hope of easing the tension.
"Let me explain. A certain battle plan is underway, and we require the power of a celestial spirit mage. That's how Yukino's power comes in."
"Celestial spirit mage?" Wendy wondered aloud, hoping that Arcadios would elaborate. But before he had the chance to, Natsu cut his mouth shut.
"Hold it right there! I don't get what you're saying at all. What do you want exactly?!"
Arcadios turned to face Natsu, his smirk a little strained. "Natsu Dragneel, right? That was a marvellous magical battle you showed us today."
In a blink of an eye, Natsu's face was merely inches from the colonel's. Eyes narrowing, he exuded a dangerous aura in threatening manner towards the knight, completely differed from the usual playful and cheerful persona he donned in front of his friends.
"I couldn't care less about that, I'm asking you what you plan on doing with the celestial spirit mages! If there's something you want to say, spit it out."
Lucy was impressed. For an idiot like Natsu, being able to comprehend the hidden meaning behind the colonel's words was astounding. Alas, she could not help but felt slightly worried. Even if it was very Natsu-like to act like that towards suspicious people, she was sure it would not go unpunished, or even worse, they could get accuse for committing treason.
The colonel turned on his back before walking away, his cape with the insignia of the kingdom of Fiore bellowing behind him.
"Follow me." was his short instruction.
"Hey, you bastard!" protested Natsu. However, his protesting fell on deaf ears.
Yukino turned to address the other celestial spirit mage. "Lucy-sama, this is also a request from me."
"Eh?"
"If this plan works, we can defeat both Zeref and Acnologia."
"Acnologia…" Natsu's eyes narrowed.
Inside the Mercurious Palace.
"Whoa…"the mages of Fairy Tail each have different reaction towards the majestic view surrounding them.
"It's huge."
"It's Mercurious Palace, right?"
"Is it really okay for us to be here?"
"This is the castle in which his majesty resides." Arcadios's booming voice echoed throughout the hall, shutting down the others' awe. "First things first."
Yukino volunteered to explain. " The incident a few days ago where Lucy-sama was targeted…we apologize for our actions back then."
Of course, the statement cause a few uproars.
"WHAT?!"
"YOU WERE BEHIND THAT?!"
"We didn't mean to harm anyone…" Arcadios tried to control the situation before it escalated further "…but it suddenly spun out of control into kidnapping. We had hastily concluded that we urgently needed a celestial spirit mage."
At that Arcadios stopped walking. " Our sincerest apologies." Arcadios offered. Lucy was contemplating on his words before he started walking again.
"The Grand Magic Games is actually just a front for us to collect magical power from all these mages."
"So you've been stealing magic energy every year from these mages?" Gray enquired.
"That's dirty." Gajeel berated the two members of the Fiore army.
"It matters not what you think, it was all for the sake of this plan." They descended the stairs that lead to somewhat basement under the castle. What the Fairy Tail mages found there mesmerized them in amazement.
"The Eclipse Gate, if open, will change the world." Arcadios gestured towards to what look like a huge, complex machine that have two large doors in the middle.
' A gateway?! Is this some kind of magic portal?' Lucy wondered.
'The hell?' Natsu was feeling like his brain working at a really fast pace at the moment, connecting the dots and a few fragments from his lost memories that still lingers. It felt like deja-vu, staring at the massive gateway in front of them. The other Dragon Slayers,Gajeel and Wendy also felt the same. A certain feeling tugging at their chests. It's as if they have seen it before, from a long time ago…
"When the sun and the moon intersect, twelve keys will be used to open this gate." Arcadios said. "When they open, we'll travel 400 years in time. That, is the Eclipse Plan."
The other mages, except Yukino, widened their eyes upon hearing that. Cold sweats broke on their skins.
"T-Travel through time…?!" Lucy stuttered.
"Lucy-sama. I've heard that time flows differently in the celestial spirit world than it does in this one." Yukino asked for confirmation.
"W-Well, that's true, I suppose…" Lucy admitted.
"Using the unique dimensional plane of the celestial spirit world, we can use the celestial spirit mages' power to open this gate." Yukino eloborated the mechanism of the plan.
"The initial plan was to have mages use an imitated celestial magic. But in the end, it could be said that the real thing, and the twelve keys were vital to ensure this plan truly complete." Arcadios then turned to face them. "Do you know what the date of today is?"
All three of the Dragon Slayers widened their eyes in shock upon realizing what the date of the day is. Lucy and Gray were confounded by their reaction.
'Is there any special occasion for this particular date?' the ice and celestial spirit mages wondered.
"July seventh…" Natsu clenched both of his fist, trying to find the meaning behind all of this. Is the date related to the Eclipse Plan?
"When the sun and the moon intersects on the seventh of July, which is today, we would like to borrow your power, Lucy-sama."
"That was the date our dragons disappeared!" Wendy spoke what on her mind out loud.
"Could it be just a coincidence?" Gajeel wondered.
"B-But…" Lucy spluttered, hesitation lacing her voice.
"Please, Lucy-sama! This is for the sake of the world. Without you and the ten of the Zodiac keys you possessed, this plan is futile!"
Lucy was uncertain. True, Zeref and Acnologia were threats that could not be ignored further. True, being tasked with a major part for an important plan such as this made her heart soared in a good way. True, she did not wish for the world destruction if Zeref and Acnologia were not demolish.
But, she did not know why should they travel to 400 years to the past in order to destroy a single person, and a dragon if they were lucky. Could they not destroy him in this current time? Were they they really hopeless when encounter with an opponent such as Zeref even if they work together? Now that she thought about it, they could not even defeat Acnologia even if all of the powerful mages of Fairy Tail work together against him.
Alas, time travel really is a risky option. Even if they defeat Zeref, who knows what would happen to their current timeline. The whole history could be change. Well, their history were not really butterflies and rainbows. War by war were fought by nations. Thousands innocent lives were taken. Be it from the war, famine, plague, all of it seems related to the Black Wizard Zeref.
Maybe Zeref really was the cause for the chaos occurred around the world. Maybe, if they defeat Zeref once and for all, the innocent lives that were taken before could be save. Children, women, old people. All of them could have a second chance if they defeat the Black Wizard. Although these were all wishful thinking, she could not help by being careful, local authority or not. She needed confirmation.
"Why should we go to 400 years in the past in order to defeat Zeref? Can't we just do it in the current timeline?"
"I'm impressed with how diligent you are, Miss Heartfillia. The answer for your question is simple really. Simply said, defeating Zeref in this current timeline is an impossible task to do. Do you know, the Black Wizard was infamous for his immortality? Even if we can wound him, killing him was out of the question.
Don't you think that the other kingdom from the past has ordered for Zeref to be executed? They had tried capturing him. They have tried executing him. Alas, all of it for naught since he is immortal. That's why the Eclipse Plan was conjured, to destroy Zeref before he gained immortality." Arcadios contention was valid, she could not deny it. But for some reason, there's a nagging feeling in her heart that say destroying Zeref was simply wrong. She could not fathom it. It really bugs her off.
"Well, Miss Heartfillia. I think my reasoning was enough for you to participate in this plan. Will you assist us for the sake of the world peace?"
Lucy turned to Natsu, trying to find some support. Usually, when she was full of uncertainty, Natsu was the one to push her doubts away. However, her pink-haired best friend was unresponsive. He was unusually quiet, frown marred his face as if he was troubled by something. She decided that he was unaware by her silent plea.
She then turned to the rest of her friends. Gajeel and Wendy were much less in the same condition as Natsu's. They too were unresponsive by their surroundings, as if they were caught in a trance. Their faces also look troubled. What with their cold sweats breaking, slight widening of eyes and gritting of teeth, and Lucy swore that was the worse scowl Wendy ever donned, except for Gajeel since he was always scowling.
The exceeds were also puzzled by their partners befuddlement. Happy was waving his paw in front of Natsu's face several times. Carla tugged at Wendy's skirt slowly at first, but then put a lot of effort in it since Wendy was likely cast one of her spell on herself that apparently made her weight a hundred kilos. And Pantherlily strangely enough trying futilely for Gajeel to sneeze by tickling his nose with the tip of his tail.
Since all the exceeds were busy trying to pull their partners out from their trance, she turned towards her last resort in seeking encouragement, which is none other than Gray himself. Their eyes met. Gray raised one of his brow, asking silently what was bothering her.
She replied with her eyes about the best course of action to take in this situation. Should she participate in the plan or not?
Gray shrugged, signalling that it was her own decision that she have to make.
A tick mark appeared on Lucy's forehead, indicating her exasperate feeling on Gray's lack of answer.
Gray, upon seeing the various exasperate emotion flickered on her face in a matter of seconds that probably range from 'Are you an idiot!' to 'What should I do?', rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish way, asking for apology.
He then stared straight to her eyes and nodded, showing his approval for joining the plan. He thumbed up, showing the general encouragement. ' You can do it!'
Lucy smiled before she nodded her head in gratitude. Of course, their silent conversation was not unnoticed by Yukino. She inwardly smiled, relieved that Lucy-sama would graciously helped them. Lucy turned to face Yukino straight in the eyes.
"Alright, I'll do it!"
Done! Phew. That was the longest chapter I've ever written in a single day. So, what do you think? Don't forget to leave a constructive review behind. Your review would be much appreciated. That's all from today! Ja ne!