The 3 Dragon Slayers eye's were wide at the mention of their Dragons, they all leant into the table waiting on baited breath for any information Layla could provide.

"Your question is in 2 parts, but in reality there is more that you are currently unaware of specifically the year X777" Layla said before taking a more strict approach.

"I'm going to break out some parts of the question and give you as much information as I can" Layla said staring into the eyes of the 3, Lucy had a smile knowing that this is what they had been waiting for but behind the smile the year X777 haunted her.

"Firstly: Your Dragons Today." Layla paused as her eyes fixated on Wendy's.

Wendy noticing this said "me?" as she pointed to herself.

"Grandine, I can confirm she is alive and well." as Layla said this Wendy started to cry tears of happiness.

"As for Igneel and Metalicana... I'm yet to make contact with them, but I know they are both too stubborn to die. Sorry I cant be more specific at this point regarding them."

Natsu and Gajeel slumped over depressed, but both were happy for Wendy.

"Secondly, X777... This year holds significance for all 4 of you, however I firstly want to know what you think happened, Natsu"

"Huh me? It's the year dad vanished, I went to sleep next to Igneel but when I woke up he was gone." Natsu responded still depressed.

"Would I be correct in saying that all 3 of you recall the events as the same? you went to sleep next to your Dragons and when you awoke they were gone?" Layla said looking at the other 2

"Thats exactly how it happened with Metalicana" Gajeel said propping himself up in his chair.

"Grandine was the same, but you have already said she is alive" Wendy added.

"Ok... Your assumptions are reasonable, considering the information you have as well as the fact all 3 of you were asleep at the time. However... your Dragons didn't disappear on July 7th..."

"...You appeared" Layla said, pausing to let it sink in.

"What do you mean they didn't disappear!? We couldn't find em!" Natsu said confused

"We appeared?" Wendy said confused

"From where?" Gajeel added to wendy's question

"From 400 years ago, I brought you with me" Layla responded.

"The Hell!" Gajeel said standing up from out of his chair.

Lucy upon hearing her mother's words felt a heavy weight pressing down on her, she couldn't shake the fear, but she couldn't bring herself to ask... she sat there trembling

Layla looked at Lucy, she could see the turmoil and knew what she was thinking.

"Lucy... You know now... Don't you... Why I had to go..." Layla said with a heavy heart.

"I didn't want you to go Momma!" Lucy burst into tears as she said this. "Why did you leave me alone!" She yelled as she continued to cry.

"I'm sorry Lucy, it was the hardest day of my life, and I have had to live knowing the truth for 14 years" Layla said shamefully.

"Well I don't get it?" Natus said completely missing the point.

"YOU IDIOT SALAMANDER!" Gajeel yelled as he had pieced it together.

"What?" Natsu said still clueless

"She died..." Wendy said covering her mouth, before yelling "SHE DIED FOR US!" Wendy's eyes welled up with tears. "Lucy lost her mom for us" Wendy began to cry also.

"Yes..." Layla said before continuing "When opening the door... my human self died."

Layla got up out of her chair and walked over to Lucy before crouching down beside her, she looked up at her daughters tear filled face.

"It took me 14 years to come back to you, please don't cry... I don't want to ever be the source of your tears again" Layla said as her own eyes welled up

Layla stood up next to Lucy who was still sobbing in her chair, she pulled Lucy's head in towards her chest and comforted her as she continued to speak.

"I never planned for this to happen. When I created Layla. She was originally meant to be my anchor in Earthland while I waited with the Dragon Slayers in the Celestial Plain."

Layla let out a smile as she began to additionally stroke Lucy's hair."But I fell in love, something I didn't think possible, but it seemed my human form was too human."

Layla let out a small laugh and shook her head "But I don't regret it, in fact the memories I have as a human with you and your father, are some of the happiest times of my existence."

Lucy stopped crying, she couldn't hold it against her mother, she understood the position Layla was in. She continued to take comfort in her mother's arms, The 3 Dragon Slayers smiled as they looked on ensuring not to interrupt.

Layla took a step back gently placing her hands on Lucy's shoulders as she looked into her daughters eyes "Although I was left with no choice but to leave you, I feel that when you hear why, you will begin to understand, and one day come to forgive my actions."

Layla walked back to her chair and sat down, taking a deep breath as she wiped her own tears from her eyes.

"If you're saying we are from the past? Why bring us here?" Gajeel asked with some seriousness sensing the stability in the mood.

Layla nodded before continuing her story. "When Obsidian tricked me as Zeref, and Acnologia was rampaging through the country destroying Dragon Soldiers, I assembled my royal court."

"I informed them of everything. The nature of Obsidian's division of his Essence, about how his human self, Zeref, contained the majority share of his power. Why we had resumed the war due to the possession of the Dragon Slayers, and how Obsidian's Battle Royale resulted in the accumulation of his remaining power with in Acnologia."

"Because I was unable to personally be involved in the conflict against either Zeref or Acnologia itself, it meant that dealing with either of the 2 would be extremely difficult if not impossible with the remaining forces we had."

"The best option was for Obsidian himself to stop Acnologia. But Obsidian as Zeref was not interested, in fact he was enjoying himself too much with the war and the entertainment Acnologia in his madness provided for him, with his essence possessing Acnologia, this allowed him to experience the carnage first hand."

"With negotiation off the table, the final option then fell to you Dragon Slayers and the power you would come to wield. You 3 and Kori are the solution to Acnologia and Zeref, as you alone possess the means to stop both with out any negative repercussions.

"Wait why are we the only ones that can do it? Why cant you?" Natsu said confused but also a little excited at the idea of beating Acnologia.

"The problem is my position as the Light Pillar while he occupies that of the Dark Pillar. In the event that I was to kill Zeref or Acnologia, I would inherit their power."

"Inherit his power? But that means you will be Stronger!" Natsu said even more excited with the idea.

Layla shook her head as she explained

"My body is already at its limit and I can hardly contain my own power. If I was forced to add Obsidians power on top of mine, it would result in the destruction of Earthland. You have seen my form and power, you saw the land quake and break apart with just my presence, imagine if I had twice that and no way to stop it."

"AWESOME!" Natsu proclaimed.

"NO ITS NOT YOU IDIOT!" Lucy said as she slapped Natsu on the back of the head

"So why did we come to the future then if we are really from the past? Why couldn't we stop them back then?" Wendy asked

There were 2 reasons I brought you to the future, the first one was to punish Obsidian. With me gone and you Dragon Slayers gone with me, Obsidian was trapped as Zeref in his human form forcing him to experience the life he had so casually dismissed as insects. A punishment my royals and I agreed was most fitting.

"The fact that Natsu said Zeref cried makes me think this was a success." Layla proudly proclaimed

"The second reason was Acnologia, His destruction was too widespread, and it was only a matter of time until he found the Royals guarding you."

"Firstly I'll say for the record, not one of your Dragons wanted to part with you and I did not want to take you by force either. It was always my intention for you to be close with your Dragons, but with a heavy heart they all eventually conceded to my plan."

Layla turned and stared at Natsu "Also for the record, Natsu. Igneel was willing to challenge me for my position as the Light Pillar over you. However he eventually backed down only because he didn't want to deal with balancing the One-Magic."

"Way to go Dad! Wait One-Magic? Wasn't that what Hades was rambling about, that's right Lucy you said your Mom said something about it!" Natsu pointed at Layla and gasped for some reason only just now connecting the dots.

"Natsu sometimes you hurt my brain" Lucy said not sure if to feel sorry for Natsu or angry. Wendy and Gajeel both tear dropped at his stupidity.

"Anyway" Layla said trying to drag the conversation back on track...

"The 4 royals Igneel, Metalicana, Grandine, and Saphira for Kori, when you had gone to sleep all cast Stasis Magic on you via a spell I provided them; this way you wouldn't wake up as they brought you all to me."

"I opened a Doorway to the Celestial Realm and spoke to the Spirit King, and he provided you Slayers and I sanctuary. This had the added bonus of also providing the means to move rapidly forward in time because of the time flow with in the Celestial Realm."

"The Celestial King, hid us with in an unused section of the Zodiac Plane, residing between Scorpio and Sagittarius. As it was off centre enough to not be part of the 12 gates we were able to conceal our existence.

In exchange for passage, I created a Dragon based Celestial Spirit to act as a guard to the Celestial realm, and his name was Ophiuchus. During our 4 year trip, which was 400 years in Earthland time, I let what power I could not contain spill out into his domain.

"The 13th gate! Yukino has!" Lucy Exclaimed in shock "YOU MADE THAT!?"

"That giant snake thing?" the others all said in unison

"Yes" Layla said proudly before adding "But if he only showed up as a snake it means the Celestial Mage with the key lacks the power to bring out his true form. But that's not really surprising."

"Wow that thing can get stronger?... That's a little scary Mom" Lucy said shuddering at the idea

"What's wrong with him? In fact he is quite a friendly spirit once you get to know him! He is just very protective." Layla giggled "The Spirit King was quite taken with him"

Layla took a deep breath as she neared the end of her story.

"I kept you Dragon Slayers in stasis during our 400 year journey inside Celestial Realm. But After about 4 years I split my essence leaving all of my Dragon being and 50% of my power in the celestial realm to guard you Slayers with Ophiuchus, and created my human form Layla who, with the Spirit King's help, I returned to Earthland to see what had become of it."

"Because of my close ties with the Celestial King and ultimately the duty of my human self to open the door to Ophiuchus when the time was right, I become a Celestial Mage. I Eventually even gained 3 more Zodiac Keys, Aquarius, Cancer, and Capricorn.

"I had a close relationship with my spirits, having resided in the Celestial World for so long, I could not see them as anything other then my friends. Over time my human self and emotions matured, seeking more interaction. By the time I met Jude I couldn't help but fall in love."

"After having you Lucy, I found it difficult to focus on my original goal. I wanted to be with you forever but it wouldn't have been fair to Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and Kori who had been asleep for so long."

"Each year as the constellation of Ophiuchus passed in the sky I would keep tabs with my Dragon Self in the Celestial Plain. Eventually we agreed that the world was safe for the Slayers to return..."

"I distributed my 3 Zodiac Keys to 3 of my attendants, but made a deal with each of them that should you become a Celestial Mage yourself Lucy, that they would always protect you; which I'm glad to see they honoured my contract" Layla wiped a tear from her eye.

"I used a story of failing health as to why I was passing the keys, in reality I was preparing to open 5 celestial doorways to Ophiuchus. The 5 doorways would be seperated far enough apart to increase the Slayers survival rate."

"I settled on the 7th of July X777, this was quite practical as a lunar eclipse was forecast for the time which boosted my Celestial magic, something I needed in order to summon the other half of my 50% form.

"You opened 5 celestial gates at once?" Lucy said with surprise as she could only safely manage 2 currently.

"Yes, but you will be capable of more soon..." Layla said before deciding to put it into perspective "You should be able to maintain 6 Zodiac Spirits at the same time, with sufficient power to cast Urano Metoria."

"Is that good?" Natsu asked

"Seriously, do you even hear yourself" Gajeel said angrily staring at Natsu.

"Amazing" Wendy exclaimed at the thought

"When July 7th came around, I opened the gateway to Ophiuchus in 4 different locations remotely while my dragon self removed the stasis on you Slayers sending each of you through a different gate, and then opened a final gateway at my position before coming through myself..."

"However... The strain of opening the gate for my Dragon Self proved to be too much for my human body to sustain and eventually I collapsed under the weight of my own Magical Pressure."

Layla signed but then shook her head before continuing.

"If I had created my human form of Layla with immortality, like what Obsidian had done with Zeref, I would not have aged and I would've also avoided my inevitable demise. But, despite eventually leading to my death as a mortal, I had no regrets in my choice to forgo immortality."

Layla stared lovingly into Lucy's eyes from across the table and smiled.

"I was able to enjoy growing up as a human, and all the experiences that it brought. I was able to genuinely fall in love, and most importantly... It also allowed me to have you Lucy... As an immortal being I would not have been capable, that alone was enough.

"Oh Momma..." Lucy's eyes welled up with tears as she realised just how much she was truly loved.