A/N: Hey guys! I got really inspired when I realized that I can finally write this chapter. The idea isn't 100% mine. It was originally given to me by MarSofTheGalaxies. I only used it and added new things to it but the basic idea is still the same. :)
And as always, I do not own the characters in this story. They are Hiro Mashima's posession and I'm only using them in this story.
Chapter 20: A Forgotten Memory
A abandoned mansion
Year: Unknown
After walking through the corridors of time towards their next destination and after they had used the gate that was open in the other end of the long corridor, Lucy and the others arrived to a yard of a huge mansion. Because it was dark, and it was raining heavily, it wasn't very easy to see where they actually were. But one thing was sure – they needed shelter from this storm before they could investigate the area for possible paradoxes and also, they had stay on alert because Lisanna's whereabouts were unknown. Lucy had asked if Sae knew where she might be but the goddess had said she's somewhere hiding because she was unable to see her movements. It made Lucy pretty worried because she didn't have any offensive magic in her disposal as a Seeress. If Lisanna attacked, she would have to rely on others and she really hated it.
"Hey, what is this huge mansion anyway?" Gray asked, bringing Lucy out of her thoughts.
"I can't really say", Erza said. "But it looks abandoned."
"We should be careful though", Nora said. "That crazy demon might be hiding here."
"If she tries to harm Luce, there'll be consequences", Natsu said fiercely. "I'm so fed up with Lisanna now. Why can't she just let go and stay away?"
"I think the power she has has gone to her head", Theodore said. "She is very powerful, and she must be even more powerful now that she was able to steal the whole army of Soulless from Zephyrus."
"Maybe she and Regina had disagreements and something happened?" Lector wondered.
While they kept talking about possibilities regarding Lisanna's betrayal, Lucy looked at the house in front of her. She couldn't figure out the colors but there was still something that made her feel like she was experiencing a deja vu. She just couldn't shake off the feeling that she had been here before.
Suddenly a lightning bolt flashed through the sky, followed by a loud rumbling noise. But the flash of light revealed why the house made her feel like she did – it was her own mansion. The one she had been living until she ran away from home. But why were Lucy and her companions here? Was there something important going on?
"Guys, this is my house", she said aloud.
"Are you sure, Lucy?" Happy asked.
"Yes. When the lightning flashed, I recognized it."
"Do you sense anything with that inner radar of yours?" Natsu asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Nothing yet. But I think we should go inside and figure things out there. We might also find something that tells us why we're here."
Everyone nodded, and they began to walk towards the front door of the mansion. The path there was in a horrible condition. The nature had started to reclaim the area as its own again as time had went by – which made Lucy wonder what year it was now exactly.
Once the group reached the front doors, and Lucy tried to open them, she was stopped by Erza and Nora, who only quietly shook their heads. Lucy understood the hint and took few steps back. Nora then proceeded to open the wooden door slowly. Then they looked inside the house. It was very dark in there as well. And way too dusty for Lucy's liking.
"I think we're good to go", Erza said quietly, and stepped inside. Nora followed her. Then Lucy went in followed by everyone else. It was then when Lucy noticed that she was basically standing there, surrounded by her friends.
"Seriously?" she asked aloud. "Damn, I need to ask Sae why she didn't give me offensive magic because this is ridiculous."
"Don't say that, Lucy", Natsu said. "From what we've understood, you need to be protected because without you we'd be stuck in time with no way out."
"And Natsu wants you to see him as your hero!" Happy exclaimed louder than he probably should have. A echo of his voice rang through the dark rooms of the mansion.
"Way to go, Happy", Lector mocked him. "If we get attacked by the enemy now, I'll make sure they'll eat you first."
"It's ok", Lucy laughed. "I don't sense any danger in this place. But I really don't sense any time gates or artefacts either..."
"That's pretty odd", Gray said.
"Maybe the time itself has been affected by what Lisanna did", Nora said. "You see, Sae told me that there are a lot of things that we shouldn't do in order to keep the Clock of Time moving forward. She told me that if someone does something at the wrong time, and at the wrong place, the Clock will stop moving."
"So we may be experiencing another Time Clock issue", Lucy said, crossing her arms on her chest. "So... that means the only way we can get out is to wait for Sae to help us?"
"Yeah, that's the only thing we can do", Nora confirmed. "She will locate us eventually and come here."
"Well, since we're gonna sit here and do nothing, I say we light up the fireplace in the living room and –" Natsu began, but once he took a step in the dark entrance hall, everything changed. Hall was suddenly filled with light and the darkness was gone.
"Oh, I think I walked into some sort of a distortion..." he said as he turned around surprised look on his face.
"This is a paradox", Lucy said, feeling it with every cell of her body.
"The door is locked", Gray informed. "Good job, Flame Brain, now we're stuck here for good!"
"Stop blaming me, Ice Princess!"
"Shut up!" Erza yelled at them. "Lucy, what should we do?"
"Solve the paradox. Then, hopefully... we'll find a exit...", blonde answered as she looked at a smaller version of herself running through the entrance hall towards the living room with a excited look on her face and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Was that Little Lucy?" Natsu asked as the young girl disappeared somewhere into the room. And right at that moment the spacetime distortion disappeared as well, and the entrance hall turned into a dark, dusty place as it was these days.
"Yes, it was", Lucy said. "I don't know what this is, but I'm confident that this isn't supposed to happen..."
"We might find answers if we follow that girl then", Sting said. "Shall we go then?"
Lucy nodded, although something inside her told her that she shouldn't stay here. It just didn't feel right – and that surprised her. It was her own house after all. What could possibly happen here anyway? Lucy was sure that Lisanna hadn't followed them. If she had, blonde would sense the gate she used easily but there was nothing. Only the one Lucy had used to come to this place. So why did she feel like they shouldn't be here?
They followed Little Lucy to the living room that was located in the end of the right corridor. As Lucy walked through, she really started to hate the state this mansion was in. Why was it like this anyway? Had Lucy herself eventually decided that she didn't want to move back in and just left it there so as time went by, it got destroyed by the nature?
I'm really angry at you, my past self. You should never do something like this to a house you love so much, Lucy thought as she noticed how some of the windows were broken and the rain came in and formed another pool of water on the floor. She also noticed mold and different types of vegetation on the furniture and on the floor. It was evident that this mansion was left here like this hundreds of years ago. There was no other excuse.
"I have a feeling that this place is actually a remnant of a alternate timeline", Nora, who walked next to Lucy, said. "Before I joined you guys, I was trying to fix the damage on other timelines that were in complete chaos. There were a lot of different sizes of Horologium Saeculum sucking everything in and throwing them all into the Maze of Time. This place could be what's left of them."
"So we could also be lost in time", Lucy concluded.
"But we need Sae to guide us out of here", Nora said. "Also, there's another thing you and I need to talk about."
"What's that?"
"We will talk about it in private once we've gotten out of here. It's very important and it's been on my mind for a while now. But I don't want you to carry this on your shoulders too. You have already suffered so much", Nora said and smiled. "I will tell you once the time is right and Natsu isn't guarding you too eagerly..." she whispered.
"Oh, shut up", Lucy said, blushing. "He isn't guarding me!"
"Damn it!" Gray yelled when he stepped into the living room at the same moment and again, there was another flash of light, and the room changed from a dusty, dark one into a lively place that Lucy remembered so well from her past – it had always been a very bright room with the white walls, green carpets and brown furniture. She didn't notice Little Lucy anywhere in the room though.
"We must save her no matter what the cost, Jude! You know they predicted that our daughter will be the last one to carry Regina's soul in hers. We need to extract her and destroy the soul before it's too late!"
"Layla, honey, the Shamans told us it would be dangerous to extract Regina's soul from Lucy's at this point. That dark soul has been carried by this family for centuries now. Even I carried it in my soul for a very long time and nothing happened. She'll be fine when the time comes."
"Those are my parents' voices!" Lucy said and ran into the room.
There she looked around fiercely, and then noticed them – Layla and Jude Heartfilia – having a intense discussion in the other end of the room. Jude was sitting on a sofa and Layla was walking in circles as she spoke with a troubled look on her face. Lucy wasn't surprised at all. If it was Regina who they were talking about, being worried was expected.
"Aren't you worried even for a little bit, Jude? This is our daughter after all! What if something goes wrong and she ends up being possessed by that evil woman?" Layla pressed on. "We need to get rid of Regina now that we still can, Jude. I'm going to ask Shamans to come here and see if they can help."
"Layla, I'm worried about Lucy too, but I also think that you're overreacting a bit now. Regina can't hurt her in any way", Jude tried to calm his wife down. "We still have time. And there's still a possibility that after all these years the darkness in Regina has been erased and she isn't evil anymore. You know our daughter's soul is full of pure light, don't you?"
Layla sighed. "I know that very well, Jude, but darkness is a very strong force. Even the most purest soul can fall into it..."
"When the time comes, we'll protect our daughter, Layla. We still have the scroll of Pure Light's Bless", Jude said as he held his wife in his arms. "It'll be fine, I promise."
"It's just horrible to think that our little Lucy would have to face something like that..."
"She won't be alone when she does. We'll be with her."
Then the scene disappeared, and the room turned into a dark, dusty room where everything was in ruins. Lucy didn't know what to think. Her parents were aware of Regina Heartfilia the whole time but never told her about it? And there was even a prophecy of her return three hundred years later!? Why wasn't she told anything about this? If they had, Lucy would have been able to stop it earlier! She could have asked Fairy Tail's assistance the moment she joined the guild... Everything would have been avoided, and she would still be in Magnolia with her friends having fun and going on adventures on daily basis.
"Lucy, are you ok?" Erza asked gently.
"I need to know more about this", Lucy just said quietly. "I have to..."
"I think the Time itself wants you to know this", Nora said. "Look, Little Lucy appeared again."
Lucy looked at the direction Nora was pointing at and she was right. Little Lucy was present again, but this time she was just standing in a doorway, looking at them. Then the little girl turned around and walked into the corridor which was then fulfilled with light and it changed at once.
"That girl..." Nora said. "She has a very weird effect on this place. Don't you sense anything about her, Lucy?"
Lucy nodded. The moment they had locked eyes for a moment, Lucy had actually felt like this little girl held a long lost part of her with her. "We need to follow her and figure this out", blonde said.
They began following the little girl again – back into the entrance hall. This time Little Lucy was seen in the room on the left side of the front doors. She looked at Lucy and others for a moment and then disappeared into the room. Lucy and others followed her to that direction. And, again, once they stepped in, the pile rubble in the room disappeared and the place turned into a lively place. This was the another living room which was a little bit bigger than the other one. It was because the place had been used for Layla's weekly tea parties. Lucy had always loved them as a kid because nobody cared if she stole a cookie or two. After her mother had died, this room had never been used again. Actually, Lucy had been told not to even go there.
The room had similar setting as the other living room but it had less furniture in – there were no sofas or bookshelves in. There were only several white tables, and chairs. And against the walls there were side tables for the treats in the parties.
But in this particular moment, there was no parties held in the room – in the middle of it there was a group of people looking at a confused looking little girl who sat on a chair while a group of Shamans and her parents were looking at her.
"Lucy is fine, Layla", one of the Shamans said. "She doesn't show any signs of Regina Heartfilia being awake. She is still a pure soul and I think that there is no need to be worried."
"But could we just extract Regina's soul from Lucy's? I don't want her to go through with it when she's older. Now that Regina is weaker, it would be easier to destroy her, don't you think?" Layla said, trying to make Shamans understand what she wanted.
"No, it would be even more devastating to her if we force Regina out of her. In worst scenario, your daughter's very soul could be shattered into pieces and she would be nothing but a lifeless shell after the procedure", another Shaman said. "We highly recommend that we wait and deal with Regina when the time that was mentioned in the prophecy arrives."
Layla sighed and looked at her daughter sadly. "I just don't want to lose her. I want her to live a happy life. She deserves it. But she's unable to do so because this menace is living inside her."
"We do understand how you feel, Layla, but this is something that cannot be done."
"Exactly. The wall that keeps Regina imprisoned in your daughter's soul has been built with magic power that is supposed to protect her. Regina can't destroy it because it has been enchanted only to break when Lucy is 24 years old", third Shaman said.
"I still think it would be best for her if Regina is extracted, and I'm going to try it myself if all you do is to come up with excuses to not to help me", Layla said.
Her eyes were full of determination even if she had tears in her eyes.
"No, Layla, you shouldn't even think about that!" first Shaman said, looking horrified.
"I will, and I will succeed!" Layla said. "Come on, Lucy, let's go..."
"Layla, you have to think this through! It's going to be dangerous for you and your daughter!"
"I'll be fine. I'm a mother, and mothers survive anything", Layla said as she walked out of the room with little Lucy who still had no idea who these weirdly clothed people actually were.
Once Layla and Little Lucy disappeared from the room, so did the whole scene as well. The room turned into a pile of rubble. The ceiling had fallen into the room a long time ago, and the rain was coming in from the hole, creating more pools of water everywhere. Again, all windows were broken and nature was slowly reclaiming the place as its own.
"I have a really bad feeling about this", Lucy said.
"And I'm curious about how Shamans got involved in this in the first place", Nora pointed out. "Every time we end up finding something Regina related, Shamans are always mentioned."
"I think you'll find those answers from 491X", Theodore answered. "Because as well as I understand these things, in the year you come from, Regina had been erased from the history and turned into a forbidden secret of some sort, right?"
"Yes, that's true", Lucy said. "Although my parents probably knew the whole story since we're related. It just angers me that I wasn't told before they died... We would have been able to stop all of this in time."
"Luce, it's ok. We can still beat them up", Natsu said. "Didn't Sae tell us that beating Regina would fix the whole timeline?"
"How come are you able to sound so smart?" Lucy asked.
"I'm smarter than anyone of you thinks I am, Luce. You know I'm right. We still have time to fix this. First we'll kick Lisanna into a pulp and then – sorry Theo – hunt down Regina and do same to her. Timeline should be fixed then, right?"
"He does have a point", Nora said and others murmured in agreement. "But to do that, we need to solve this paradox. I think the story isn't over yet. Look over there", she added and pointed towards another door which was located in the other end of the second living room. It was a black door, and the Little Lucy was looking at it while shaking with fear. Older Lucy also looked at the door feeling the exact same thing. Something had happened there. Something terrible and dark – but because Lucy wanted to know the ending of this story, she went over the door and put her hand on the door handle.
"Are you sure, Real One?" Little Lucy asked. "What happens in that room is a nightmare..."
"I'll be fine, Little Lucy. Show me what's in here. I need my answers", Lucy answered and smiled, and offered her hand to the little girl – noticing that they both shone in golden light – and she took it. Then older Lucy opened the door.
It was a dark chapel looking room. In the middle of the room there was a magic circle engraved on the stone floor. Parts of the walls had collapsed years ago. Lucy was only sure that she had never ever seen this part of the mansion before. She had no memory of this room. Little Lucy entered the room while holding her older version's hand and again, just like every other time, there was a flash of light. Room became a dimly lit place, and there were only two human beings there – Lucy and her mother Layla. Lucy was laying in the center of the magic circle while Layla was enchanting something in a language older Lucy couldn't recognize.
"Mom, it hurts!" Lucy yelled while laying on the floor.
Why was this necessary? What had she done to go through something so painful anyway!? It was so unfair! Her chest felt like it was on fire, and she could even hear someone's mocking laugh inside her mind. But who was the one laughing? And why did that person even do so? Lucy didn't understand at all.
"Mom, please, stop... It hurts so much..." Lucy whispered.
Pain was so excruciating that she was already losing conscience when her mother finally noticed what was happening and stopped enchanting those stupid spells of hers. She got to her feet and ran to her.
"Lucy, I'm sorry", Layla said as she took Lucy into her arms. "I know it hurts but it has to be done to keep everyone safe in this world. If we don't do this, things will get worse sooner or later. Do you understand?"
"I do understand, mom", Lucy whispered. "But it still hurts so much..."
"The pain will go away once I'm done. I promise", Layla said and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "You're so brave, Lucy..."
Few weeks later, on July 7, in 777X Layla decided to try the extraction spell once more. This would be the last attempt. If she didn't succeed now, she would let it be and never do anything so painful to her daughter again. She did feel pain in her heart as she had to listen to Lucy's screams but she was also determined to try to get Regina Heartfilia out of her daughter's soul. That woman should have been killed ages ago and Layla thought she'd be doing everyone a huge favor if she did it herself before it was too late.
While Layla was determined to succeed in exorcism, Lucy felt even more excruciating pain in her chest. Her very soul was objecting this, but she couldn't do nothing but scream and cry at the same time. She wished that this would end soon, and then everything would be alright again. Then the mocking laughter that Lucy always heard in this room would also – hopefully – disappear. Lucy didn't want to listen to it anymore. That voice was evil.
And then, suddenly, Lucy felt something so painful in her chest that it paralyzed her. She was unable to do anything else but look at how the dark smoke rose from her own chest and took a form of a woman with black hair and dark blue eyes. She had a victorious smile on her lips as she looked at Lucy, who couldn't even speak.
"I am not going to come out from this prison until it's the right time, Layla Heartfilia, you are a fool if you thought so", said the evil woman before she snapped her fingers and a sharp crystal icicle appeared.
"You stay out of my daughter's soul, monster!" Layla said and took one of her keys into her hand. "I will defeat you!"
"Not today you won't", evil woman said and then she swung her hand and the icicle flew right through Layla Heartfilia's heart, killing her instantly.
Then the evil woman turned into dark smoke and flew into Lucy's chest once more.
And Lucy couldn't do nothing but watch how her mother fell onto the stone floor dead.
Right at that moment the door to the chapel opened, and Jude Heartfilia stood there, looking at the scene with a horrified look on his face. Once he noticed that Layla was laying in a pool of her own blood, he ran to her at once.
"Layla... what did you do...? I told you not to go through with this..." Jude murmured, tears in his eyes. He then approached Lucy. "Lucy...? Are you alive? Please be alive..."
Lucy didn't react to his voice.
She just laid on the floor her eyes wide open but no life in them...
The scene disappeared into a flash of light. Lucy fell on her knees to the floor, horrified. Her mother had actually tried to extract Regina's soul from Lucy's soul and succeeded!? And then Regina had just killed her with no signs of gratitude or anything? She just killed her and then went back to her prison!?
"There's one more memory left before the paradox is solved, Real One", Little Lucy said, while she still held her older counterpart's hand. "I have to rejoin the other pieces of your soul", she added once Lucy looked at her.
She nodded and they hugged each other. A bright golden light flashed, and Lucy and others were suddenly standing in a white room. There was just one bed there where ten year old Lucy was lying. Next to her bed was sitting Jude Heartfilia wearing black.
When Lucy finally woke up, a whole month had passed by. Lucy's mother had been buried, and the gravestone was placed into the yard of Heartfilia mansion. Lucy was heartbroken when she had been told about it. She would have wanted say goodbyes to her!
"Lucy, how much do you remember of what happened in the chapel?" her father asked quietly, looking very serious. "It's very important that you tell me what exactly happened."
"It wasn't me, dad", Lucy said at once. "It was that evil woman who came out of my chest..."
Jude sighed. "I was afraid that you might say that, Lucy", he then took Lucy's hand into his. "I know it wasn't you. I don't blame you. I know all about that woman who is imprisoned into your soul. There is a reason behind it, and there will be a day when she will come out for good. That's when we all need to be prepared but until then, you have to forget she exists."
"But dad, I don't understand any of this... Why did mom do what she did?"
"She was determined to save your life. She loved you so much, Lucy. Don't worry, the people who will help you will not touch any of your memories of Layla. Only what happened in July 7th will be modified", Jude said, smiling sadly. "We will have to live on, Lucy. Your mother would have wanted us to do so."
Lucy nodded, as the door to the room opened and a group of people – Shamans – came in. Again, they were the weirdly dressed looking people Lucy had no idea of who they were.
"Is your daughter ready, Jude?" asked the first Shaman while the other two began to prepare the room for something.
"She is ready. But please don't erase the memories of Layla from her mind", Jude said as he let go of Lucy. "I'll be here, Lucy, don't worry. Everything's fine", he added as Lucy began to object.
"We will only modify the memories related to exorcism and Regina Heartfilia", group's leader said. "Also, Jude, your wife was able to create enough damage onto the shield around your daughter's soul that Regina can take telepathic contact to the people whose minds are in turmoil."
"And because Layla did this, it has had its effect on this timeline we live in. We are now heading towards the worst possible future imaginable", said another Shaman.
"But we can still prevent Lucy from becoming Regina's slave, right?" Jude asked.
"Yes. If we erase Regina's appearance and all the information about her from her mind. She will never be able to remember the events of the past few months unless she goes back in time."
"And in that future that Goddess Sae predicted, she'll...?"
"We don't know for sure what will happen. Only the Goddess of Time knows these things", first Shaman said. "Now, it's time to do what we came here to do", he added as he stepped closer to Lucy, who looked scared.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, Lucy", he said gently as he put his hand over Lucy's eyes.
Then he began chanting in a language Lucy couldn't recognize.
But as she listened to his voice, memories in her mind began to fade, change form and be reborn.
The next time Little Lucy opened her eyes, she woke up from a dream where her mother was still alive.
A flash of golden light appeared, covering everything. When it faded away, Lucy and others stood in the ruins of Heartifia mansion. Everything was destroyed, there was nothing left. And in the middle of the ruins stood a violet colored crystal time gate which was locked. But Lucy didn't care about time gates or anything at that moment – the truth of what had happened was still too fresh in her memory.
So that's how the shell around my soul was broken enough that Regina was able to possess Lisanna to do what she wanted... she could only think.
"Lucy, are you OK?" Gray asked.
"I'm so ashamed over this. My family causes nothing but problems... I wonder if we were like this when Time Mages' empire was still around..."
"Regina is the one who made the decision to mess up with the dark magic, Lucy", Theodore said. "You have no reason to be ashamed of yourself or our family."
"He's right, Lucy. The one who really should be ashamed of herself is Regina, not you. You're the one who's trying to fix things while she tries to destroy everything we have", Erza said. "We still think of you as a friend too, Lucy. We aren't angry with you."
"There is absolutely no need for despair, Lucy", said a new voice.
Everyone turned to look at the time gate which was now open. Next to it stood the Goddess of Time herself in her usual white dress.
"You are trying to fix everything, aren't you? Your path is long and very hard to walk, but I believe in you. Why else would I have chosen you?"
"I don't know, Sae", Lucy whispered.
"I did try to stop your mother countless of times", Sae said. "It was the only time I broke the Law of Time myself. The timeline was already very unstable because Regina's spirit was still alive and I tried to save it by telling your mother not to try anything but she didn't listen. I failed and the result was the tragedy that you just saw. If someone should be ashamed it should be me."
"I can't blame you, Sae."
"I told you this because I can't let you fall into despair. You are getting closer to the end of this journey, and you will succeed. No matter how much Lisanna's actions have changed the timeline, I believe that you will succeed."
"But how can I keep going if I don't believe in myself anymore?" Lucy asked. "I just want to stop walking and go cry into a corner."
Sae smiled. "If you don't believe in yourself, you have others who will do that for you", she looked at her companions. "These people wouldn't be here if they didn't believe in you, right?"
"She's right, Luce", Natsu said. "I would follow you anywhere and still believe in you even if we failed."
"Also, we finally figured how Regina was able to possess Lisanna if your soul was meant to be a unbreakable prison for her", Lector said.
Lucy smiled weakly. "I guess you're right, everyone. I shouldn't feel like this but I just can't help it. I didn't know how brutal my mom's death really was..."
"I'm sure your mom would want you to continue", Gray said.
He's right. Mom would want me to continue on this path until I'll figure out how to destroy Regina, Lucy thought.
She took a deep breath. "You're absolutely right, Gray. She would."
"And now the real Luce is back again", Natsu said grinning.
She returned the grin.
"Sae, where does this gate lead us?" she then asked from the smiling goddess.
"This gate leads you to the roots of all paradoxes on this timeline", Sae said, looking at the gate for a moment. "It's the last time paradox gate and it will lead you to the year 491X. However, this place is filled with spacetime distortions and they all must be fixed. However, fixing this will not solve the paradoxes that Lisanna's unexpected betrayal has caused. I don't know how exactly you should fix those but the most important thing right now is to fix 491X back to the way it was before Regina went there and forced Theodore out of there."
"What about Regina? Will she also return to that year if we fix this paradox?" Lucy asked.
"No, Regina Heartfilia must be erased completely from this timeline so I can fix it permanently", Sae said. "Now, I suggest that you will step into this gate and leave this place."
"We will do so", Lucy said. "Thank you for your help, Sae."
Sae only smiled as she disappeared into a swirl of golden smoke.
"We should go too", Lucy said. "This place is a bit creepy because it's so quiet."
"I thought you never say that", Happy said and he flew into the gate.
Everyone followed him – even Lucy, who was still a little bit unsure of herself. Something also told her that something huge was about to happen...
A/N: So here it is. All the flashbacks takes place in 777X. You all probably recognize the year because it was the same year when Natsu's and other dragon slayers' dragons disappeared in July 7. Also, apparently Lucy's mother died that year so Lucy was 10 years old. I got this information from FT wiki and I think I kinda spoiled myself of the Alvarez arc's events too but I honestly don't care. I just needed the info of when Layla died so I can place these events on my messed up AU timeline right. :D
Songs I listened to while writing this chapter:
Nobuo Uematsu: Kingdom of Burmecia (FF9 OST) || Heartifia mansion theme
Hitoshi Sakimoto: White Room (FF12 OST) || Hospital scene theme
Nobue Uematsu: Forgotten Face (FF9 OST) || Sae's explanation theme