Hibiki quickly explains to the other teams what Gray's team has discovered. Most of them are as astounded as he is, but Natsu looks absolutely ecstatic.
"Hell yeah!" Natsu shouts. "If there's any chance that there's a me from the future, maybe he's figured out how to save Gina!"
"There are reasons that time magic is forbidden, Natsu," Erza says in a very serious tone. "It's extraordinarily dangerous. It also usually requires an incredible amount of magic power to accomplish. This event may not even be intentional. If there is a spell, or device, that has caused a timeline to become disrupted or out of control, we could all be in very real danger. However... it does seem that some other version of you may be attempting to use the disruption to your advantage. If that is the case, we should attempt to find you as soon as possible."
"Well then, let's go already!" Natsu shouts, adjusting Gina on his back before heading out of the small building where they were gathering more information.
"Aye!" Happy shouts.
"Let's head straight for the mine," Erza agrees as a strange little ferret runs up her shoulder to cling around the neckline of her armor.
"Do you mind if I ask what's wrong with your friend?" Hibiki asks, bringing up the rear.
"She seems to be burning through her magical energy at an accelerated rate," Erza replies. "However, it also seems that we can provide a supplemental level of energy to her through our own bodies. Her condition is very serious."
"I'm right here, you know," Gina mumbles weakly.
"You just hold on, baby," Natsu sighs. "We'll find me soon."
Hibiki turns his face towards Erza with a raised eyebrow. Baby? he thinks. He's never heard Natsu utter a pet name in all the time that he's known him. In fact, he's never noticed Natsu paying much attention to any of the shockingly beautiful women he is constantly surrounded by. Erza simply gives him a slightly pained smile in return and presses a finger against her lips. The strange little ferret on her shoulder chitters toward Natsu and Gina, then hides his face against Erza's neck.
Ahhh… this must be very painful for all of them.
As they reach the beginning of the mine, they initially follow the path of Gajeel's team, and then take a left again at the next fork where that team chose to take a right. Using the description of everyone's experiences thus far, this particular shaft appears incredibly unstable. The walls and air around them seem to shimmer and dance all over the place.
"We may have to deem this path too risky," Erza mumbles, rounding the next corner carefully.
"We've gotta check 'em all," Natsu argues. "I could be anywhere."
"But it's not going to do us any good if…"
Erza is cut off by an ear-splitting, high-pitched scream from the mineshaft in front of them. It sounds like the kind of scream a child would make. The whole team freezes in response.
"Come back here you little brat!" A deep male voice booms.
"You idiot!" A woman's voice follows. "Don't let her get away!"
Natsu, Erza, and Happy all bolt towards the sound of the scuffle instantly; with Hibiki rushing to catch up. The sound of a bullwhip cracks and the childlike voice screams again.
"What the hell is going on?!" Natsu roars as he bursts into the open cavern at the end of the mineshaft.
The cavern seems to be a large storage room of some kind according to the map, but Hibiki can't imagine being stuck in this small of a space with Natsu Dragneel engaged in battle; much less Erza. Surprisingly, the room looks completely empty. As they squint through the darkness, there are two additional pathways leading out. They can hear the sound of running footsteps from multiple people, but it's impossible to tell which direction the sounds are coming from. Nothing is visible coming towards them from any direction. Another shrill scream is heard just as a small child drops from a shimmer in the ceiling directly above Natsu and Gina; knocking them to the ground.
"Ouch…" Natsu mumbles trying to push himself up from his position, face-first in the dirt.
The young girl, who appears to be five or six years old, landed on the back of Natsu's neck and in front of Gina's surprised face. She rolls off awkwardly, sliding around Gina and into the dirt, and begins crying immediately. She has wildly curly, salmon-colored hair, dark black eyes, and pale skin. She's dressed in a small blue and gold sundress with black leggings. She's clutching her right arm to her chest and there seems to be blood seeping through her fingers. Gina reaches for the child weakly and the ferret leaps down and scurries to sniff beneath the edge of the little girl's shirt, nuzzling her stomach.
The little guy must be trying to calm her.
"Erza, the kid is wounded," Hibiki says moving towards the little girl quickly.
He begins to inspect the child as Natsu manages to get up on his knees. There is a deep laceration across the top of the child's arm. Hibiki tears the bottom edge off of his shirt as he hears Natsu mumble, "Gina? Are you alright?"
Gina doesn't have time to answer him before two more screams burst into the large room, as a man and a woman also fall from the ceiling into a heap a dozen feet in front of them. They both groan in unison and start trying to untangle themselves to stand. Erza immediately places herself, with her sword drawn, between the two newcomers and the rest of the group.
"Identify yourselves!" Erza shouts at them.
The man's head snaps up and his eyes fix on the child.
"Grab her Jerusha!" he shouts instead and the woman jumps to her feet, beginning to lunge immediately.
"Hibiki!" Natsu shouts, springing to his feet. "You've got to take her!"
Natsu quickly unties Gina from his back and tosses her directly at Hibiki. Erza swings her sword; forcing the enemy woman to dodge backward before trying to lunge again. With his hands now free, Natsu rushes to Erza's side. Hibiki struggles to catch and hold Gina more securely in his arms. The young girl at Hibiki's side: gasps; lunges forward; and, for some odd reason, attaches herself to Natsu's leg just below the knee. The ferret stands up in front of the girl and bares its teeth. Natsu throws his arms up in surprise and glances down at them.
"What the…?" he shrieks.
With the strange woman in motion towards them again, Erza brings her sword back down; going on the offensive.
The woman dodges and shouts, "It's him!"
"Kill them both!" the man shouts, beginning his own assault now that he's gained his feet.
"Happy GET THIS KID OFF ME!" Natsu shouts.
"Aye, Sir!" Happy shouts, grabbing the young girl by the shoulders, and lifting her into the air just as Natsu jumps back out of the way of the man's bullwhip.
"NO!" the little girl screams.
"That's IT!" Natsu screams, "Fire Dragon Wing Attack!"
The little ferret dives behind Erza, and Natsu's spell slams into both of the hostile strangers, propelling them backward. Instead of hitting the wall, however, their bodies seem to be pushed straight through it, and they disappear from view.
"Where have they gone?" Erza shouts, maintaining her defensive stance.
"They just disappeared!" Happy shouts from the air.
Hibiki sighs in relief and adjusts his grip on Gina once again. He's backed up against the cave wall during the scuffle and sags against it just as Natsu turns towards them. Hibiki's startled by his own scream, as he continues falling through the stone, and everyone else disappears from view.
With a soft thud, Hibiki feels his back hit the ground, and Gina's weight lands on his chest. Dread wells in his stomach as he blinks against the pitch black darkness; now surrounding them in eerie silence.
"Gina!" Natsu screams, lunging towards the stone wall where he just watched her and Hibiki disappear before his eyes.
Instead of catching her in his grasp, his hand strikes against the stone at full force and crumples, shattering some of the stone. "NO! God dammit! Hibiki come back here!" She can't be gone!
He begins striking his fists into the stone, again and again, trying to dig his way through to them.
"Natsu!" Happy shouts. "I don't think that's gonna work!"
The little girl begins to cry.
Erza's hand comes down hard on Natsu shoulder, and she says, "If they've fallen through a rift, they are not even likely to be on the other side."
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO, HUH?!" Natsu roars in a full rage, turning towards her with blazing fists. "HIBIKI DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING! WE HAVE TO GET GINA BACK!" She'll die!
His rage sputters into confusion as he realizes the little girl has re-attached herself to his leg and is now sobbing. He glances down at her curly hair and blood-stained dress. Her face is pressed against his thigh. Ming is rubbing his little body in circles against her stomach, and trying to nuzzle her face.
"What the heck, kid?!" he complains in a somewhat calmer tone. "What do you want? You could have really gotten hurt with that stunt back there!"
If Happy hadn't gotten ahold of her, he would have been unable to repel the attack without catching her in the crossfire.
"I WANT MY DADDY!" the little girl screams, as Natsu covers his ears in shock at the volume.
"How the heck am I supposed to help with that!?" Natsu says, plucking her up and holding her in one arm. She immediately presses her tear-soaked face into his scarf and clings to his neck with all her might, continuing to cry.
"Natsu…" Erza says gently, with a soft smile. "She is as lost and alone as Gina right now."
Natsu feels the words kick him in the gut, and he glances again at the unruly curls against his shoulder. Those people were after her… and they meant to kill. Who the hell would kill a little kid?! Those assholes!
"Hey, what is your name, kid?" Happy asks from above them.
"De-shn-nby," the girl mumbles against his scarf with a sniff.
"What?" Natsu asks.
The little girl sits up, looks him in the eye, and screams, "DESTINY!"
"Ouch!" Natsu complains. "Stop screaming at me! I've got sensitive ears."
The girl looks a little sheepish, then rubs her nose on her non-injured arm and mumbles, "I know dat."
Erza holds out a hand of welcome to Ming, who skitters back up onto her shoulder. Then she requips a large bandage from storage and binds it around the little girl's arm to slow the bleeding. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Destiny. This should help."
"What's dat for?" Destiny sniffs.
"To keep it from bleeding, duh," Natsu huffs.
Destiny glares at him and shoves her bloodied arm in his face. "You're s-posed to kiss it better!"
Natsu rolls his eyes and decides to humor her. He kisses the top of the bandage and asks, "There, is that better?"
The girl stares at her arm with a shocked and hurt expression. "You di'nit do it right!"
"I tried!" he complains. "Here, Erza you try."
"She can't do it!" Destiny wails. "I WANT MY DADDY!"
"Hey, hey…" Natsu pleads. "Stop cryin'. Where were you when you got separated from your dad?"
"In a big, smelly cave," the girl mumbles with a sniff.
Erza points to a small black Fairy Tail guild stamp on the inside of the girl's left wrist. "Who is your Daddy?" Erza asks gently.
"Da mostest…" the girl sniffs. "Mostest strong wizard in Fairy Tail."
Oh yeah… that narrows it down, Natsu thinks with a sigh.
"What's his name?" Happy asks.
The little girl looks Natsu in the eyes for a long moment, then uses her little hand to pull his scarf back and look at his neck. He has no idea what she's looking for, but her face crumples and she begins to cry again. When he looks back to Erza and Happy, both of them have weird looks on their faces.
"What?" Natsu asks.
"Do they look really similar to you?" Happy mumbles to Erza.
"I was just… noticing that," Erza says with her eyebrows pinched together. "We have no idea how far these time rifts may go in either direction from the present. She could be a descendant."
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Natsu asks.
"Natsu…" Happy whines, "I've never seen another person with your hair color before…"
"Her eyes are also the same color as yours," Erza says.
Natsu feels his entire being freeze. He looks down at the sobbing small child again. They're right… he thinks in awe, but her skin is a lot paler than mine. Gray ran into one of Gajeel's kids already. Man, that would have been weird for Gajeel!
It's him! he remembers the man they battled shouting just before declaring to… Kill them both!
Natsu can barely keep his voice from trembling as he asks the little girl again, "Destiny… what is your Daddy's name?"
The girl's little body scrunches up in a ball on his arm, and she practically strangles him as she screams, "NATSU DRAGNEEL!"
"Hey, what the hell happened to our map?!" Gajeel calls into the darkness.
Hibiki doesn't respond.
"Do you think something happened to Natsu's team?" Levy asks.
"It's hard to say," Panther Lily muses aloud. "This is going to be much more difficult without a map to work from."
"We'd better write down anything we can remember, before we forget it," Gajeel mumbles.
"Hand me the marker," Levy barks.
"Hibiki?" Lucy calls into the air around them. "Natsu? Erza?"
"Hey guys," Gray adds. "What's goin' on out there?"
"You won't hear from them for a while," Moorwen mumbles from his lazy posture leaning against the wall. "Hibiki's not in your time anymore."
"He WHAT?!" the group cries in unison.
Hibiki groans and rolls over, attempting to shift Gina carefully to the ground beside him. He can't see a thing.
"Gina, are you alright?" he whispers.
Gina doesn't respond.
"Archive," he mumbles, and the magical screens illuminate the room as they appear around him.
Gina is lying there with her eyes closed, and she is completely still. He can't even tell if she's breathing. He glances around them, but they seem to have fallen into a huge cavern. It stretches farther than his archive light can penetrate in all directions. He can't even make out the ceiling.
"Gina?" he tries again, turning back to her. He begins rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt, exposing the patterned insides. He lifts her into his arms again, and struggles to his feet. "Anyone?" he calls out, as he begins walking through the massive room. "Is anyone there? Please, we need help!"
Erza mentioned that they were supplementing her energy somehow, but Hibiki doesn't sense anything obvious. Damnit, Erza! You should have told me how to…
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Hibiki freezes. He can feel an incredibly powerful magic moving towards them. He's never felt anything like it before. It's as if the ground itself shivers with each oncoming step and his body begins to tremble before the force of it.
"Who goes there?" he calls out, starting to back up.
Thud, thud, thud, thud. The tempo increases as the power begins speeding towards them.
"Hello?" Hibiki calls again, trying to decrease the obvious fear in his voice.
In a matter of moments, a man appears at the end of where the light reaches. The man lifts his hands and flames burst forth from all edges of the room, throwing the scene into harsh firelight. He is a relatively young man, in black pants that are long on the right side, and cut like shorts on the left. He's wearing a red, hooded cloak that shields his face from view at this distance, but his torso is bare. There is an incredibly intricate, black tattoo running the full length of the left side of his body; all the way down to his calf. There is also a red Fairy Tail guild stamp on his right arm, exactly like Natsu's.
Gina stirs after a moment, and suddenly gasps with a severe shudder.
"Put her down, and back up," the man orders, and Hibiki is shocked for a moment to realize that it's Natsu's voice too.
"Natsu?" he asks. "Are you the one who sent me the note?"
"Yeah," Natsu calls, moving towards them again. "Now hurry up."
But the power radiating from this new Natsu is terrifying. How did he obtain it? What has he done? Hibiki begins to back up again instead, clutching Gina tighter. "I'm sorry, Natsu, but I…"
"I don't have TIME FOR THIS!" Natsu screams, sprinting at them.
With a flick of his wrist, Natsu sends a tiny fireball hurling at them. It hits Hibiki high on his right collarbone and scorches. He drops Gina and tries to lunge for her, but flames burst forth from in front of him. He stumbles back and hits the ground hard.
"Gina!" Hibiki screams, reaching for her as her entire body is encircled by a wall of fire. He scrambles away from the intense heat, seeing Natsu dart through the flames into the opposite side of the fire wall. "GINA!"