Chapter 16
Percy took his sweet time navigating through the rest of Hell Palace since he had the utmost confidence in his guildmates to handle any situation thrown at them on their end. It was because of that faith that once he made it out, he headed to find the Princess that claimed they were rebels and anyone else she may have been in cahoots with to get to the bottom of the situation and ensure that the portal would stay closed.
It was the same faith, unfortunately, that allowed for the death of Future-Lucy to elude him.
Instead, he made his way through the palace of the king before he stopped suddenly, realizing that he had no idea where to search for her within the palace. Thinking quickly, he sensed for the Eclipse Portal and made his way toward it under the assumption that she wouldn't be far behind.
Luckily, he was correct in that assessment and found her gathered with Imperial soldiers, the Minister of Defense, and an unidentified guard that looked like he could be related to Arcadios. Instead of making his presence known (seeing as they likely didn't trust him), he observed from far enough off to not be noticed, but still close enough to hear their conversation.
"Princess," the unidentified guard began before Percy was thoroughly confused.
"Arcadios-sama! Then you're safe!" the Princess cried in relief, but Percy's mind paused briefly.
'That's Arcadios, then they made it out for certain. Good,' Percy thought with one mind as the other half listened to the conversation before him.
"Colonel, when I had thrown you into Hell Palace, I'm afraid I was terribly biased," the minister apologized with either genuine guilt, or fake guilt in his tone. Percy couldn't distinguish based off of Arcadios' next words.
"Let's let bygones be bygones. Does everyone here already know about Eclipse 2?" he asked, making Percy's mind race again.
'Eclipse 2? So they had a backup plan in case they couldn't go through the portal? But how does that help?'
"Yes. We were just informing all the soldiers. Hopefully word will spread quickly to the Garou Knights as well," the Princess replied.
'They won't. They should be down for another hour at the very most, those spry brats.'
"The person who came from the future was telling the truth. From this moment forth, the Eclipse Project will move to Eclipse 2," the Princess informed him and Percy froze.
'The future? They actually managed to use it correctly to get back to this time period? Who was it and what did they hope to accomplish?' Percy thought rapidly, but they quickly devolved into more personal thoughts.
'Does that mean I have absolutely no way to get home? Is it only a time portal then and me coming here was a glitch or a mistake?' Percy mused with a small amount of sadness seeping into those thoughts, but he crushed it just as quickly. 'I need to make sure everyone is okay first, then I can worry about getting home. Assuming it hasn't been a century like I assumed.'
"Are you abandoning the first plan to eliminate Lord Zeref?" Arcadios asked, making Percy narrow his eyes in speculation. 'Lord Zeref? Is he calling him that because he wishes to see him reign again or am I reading into that too much?'
"No. But first we need to remove the threat that's right in front of us," the Princess said, making Arcadios tense and draw his sword and further confusing Percy. A cry of outrage and disbelief came from the minister, but it was quickly silenced by Arcadios handing his sword to the princess.
"It is impermissible for a knight to doubt the words of his master. When your words are proven true, I shall lay down my life," Arcadios said, making the Princess gasp softly and quiver in apprehension.
Arcadios continued to posture about how he brought great shame and the minister spoke out against his actions, claiming he was mad, but Percy didn't pay them any mind. There was something more at play there.
'It's like they have conflicting… informa-gods fucking dammit,' Percy thought. 'Spies. Someone's feeding one or both of them false information.'
"Princess, please tell me the truth. I met the person from the future. But they had no knowledge of Eclipse 2," Arcadios said and the Princess shook again. "The time traveler knew what would happen, but cried because there was no solution for it," Arcadios accused.
"No," the Princess' voice wavered in disbelief. "My contact told me exactly what to do to deal with it," she protested weakly, only for Arcadios to call her out on it.
'There could be two of them. One that wants the portal open and one that knows what will happen if it does,' Percy thought to himself as he planned out his next course of action and when he tuned back into the conversation, he was proven right with that train of thought.
"'She'?" the Princess gasped. "The person from the future who advised me was a man."
'I hate it when I'm right,' Percy sighed internally before he made himself known.
"It looks like we have conflicting ideas here, Princess. Arcadios," Percy stated as he became visible and walked toward the gathered bodies.
"You?!" the minister roared, but Percy held his hands up and allowed for the troops to surround him.
"I told you that we would be back for our guildmate, brat. Now it seems that you have been fed false information about what the Eclipse Portal can and will do. So shut up and let us figure this out," Percy told him in a firm tone.
"Y-You're the Fairy's God-Slayer!" the Princess exclaimed, but Percy disarmed her with a genuine smile, but still kept his distance from her for Arcadios' and soldiers' sakes.
"Please, call me 'Percy', Princess. Glad to see that you made it out of Hell Palace, Arcadios. Now, since we have two ideas about what needs to be done, let's go over the information that we have," Percy told them and turned to Arcadios.
"Who's your contact, Arcadios?" Percy asked and Arcadios tilted his head in confusion. Percy sensed that and it certainly didn't make him feel any better.
"Based on what the Princess has said, two people came from the future. One is your guildmate, Lucy. She came back to warn your friends of danger in the future," Arcadios said and Percy's blood froze.
'Lucy? She came from the future to warn of danger…' Percy mused, but snapped out of it in time to catch the minister's next words.
"The other came back to warn the princess of danger," he said, but the Princess didn't see any issue with two of them doing the same thing since she said, "Both of them have the same purpose, to save this country. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a third or fourth person."
She turned back to Arcadios after saying that to continue to him. "And if you're a knight, then point your blade in the proper direction. I'm going to open the portal. To save this country, I shall draw my blade!"
Percy tried to stop himself from face-palming, but he couldn't. A loud slap echoed throughout the area and some of the more unprepared soldiers jumped in fright. Without realizing it, Percy started to curse rapidly in Ancient Greek before he leveled the Princess with a fierce glare.
"Are you fucking stupid?" he asked, getting a wide-eyed look of disbelief and offense in return before she regained her composure. She opened her mouth to retort, but Percy continued before she could make a sound.
"You're just going to open the portal that you have little to no knowledge about to try and travel back in time to kill a single man, the effects of which could result in you not even being born just to name one, not to mention that all the knowledge you think you have about said portal could be a blatant lie to get you to do exactly what the time traveler wants you to do?!" Percy exclaimed, gaining volume with every word spoken.
Some soldiers, and the Princess herself, flinched at the accusation and the volume of his tone, but the stubborn Princess wasn't going to back down. And as much as Percy wanted to and very easily could take every one of them down so they couldn't open it, he didn't. The last thing that the guild needed was a national incident with the gods damn King of the country.
"Yes. Will you try to stop me?" the Princess challenged, but Percy shook his head in annoyance and exasperation.
"You're a damn fool, Princess. Remember that when this goes badly, I warned you. And when we save you, I'll make sure you never forget it," Percy told her and vanished into a sea breeze with only one thought on his mind.
'Whoever the guy is that came back, he'll target this time's Lucy. I need to get to them fast.'
He sprinted through the palace.
LINEBREAK
It was right when Percy arrived that Future-Lucy took her final breath. Subconsciously, he sensed his other guildmates, including Present-Lucy, but he could only fix his blind stare on the non-moving body of his guildmate.
Yes, she was from a different time. She was still his guildmate. No, they weren't particularly close with one another. She was still his guildmate. He had cheered her up after her defeat in the Day 1 Battle Round. He had sensed her endure the agonizing pain of having her Second Origin opened.
And like a single crack in a dam, the pressure of his friends' deaths spread like a spiderweb. He hadn't thought about them for a long time, but they came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.
Bianca. Zoe. Lee. Beckendorf. Michael. Silena. Ethan. All of the others whose names he didn't get the chance to learn. Luke.
His rage bubbled rapidly, threatening to overcome him as the friends from Earthland came to him after.
How he can't hold Mavis anymore like he used to. Precht's and Warrod's resignation. Yuri's death. Every member over the century he had been a part of Fairy Tail.
Subconsciously, he knew Natsu was just as enraged, but he didn't pay it any mind. He couldn't. He had to warn the guild and everyone else.
After a century of living in Earthland, he had gotten a pretty good hold over his temper; he had learned to channel it to some extent, so he made a decision.
'Cap it for just a little bit longer. Restrain the sea for a little bit to warn the others, then I can let go,' he internally pledged.
'Well… one punch wouldn't hurt.'
Faster than anyone could react, the ground at Percy's feet cracked and he seemed to just appear in front of the time traveler - he didn't bother to learn his name, nor did he care - and hit him right in the jaw with a fist charged with the energy of an earthquake.
Like he was shot from a cannon, the time traveler was launched to the side and crashed violently into the wall, catering it before getting back to his feet in anger and disbelief.
"Who the hell are you?!" he roared, but Percy didn't pay attention to him. Instead, he bent down and picked up Future-Lucy bridal style.
"Salamander," Percy called without taking his unseeing gaze off of his deceased guildmate. Natsu, eyes puffy and red from crying, jaw clenched so hard his teeth should've cracked, and body trembling with unadulterated rage, snapped to Future-Lucy's face then to Percy's, but Percy didn't match his gaze.
"Break him," Percy whispered.
Natsu roared and charged.
"Let's go," Percy said to the others, still not lifting his eyes from Future-Lucy. "We have a kingdom to save."
LINEBREAK
Had Percy's emotional state been better, he would have realized the foolishness of the action he was about to take. But he didn't. Anger swirled within him, just below the surface, like one of his father's storms.
So after sending the others ahead with the warning, he found the middle of the garden just outside of the Flower Light Palace and stomped his foot in frustration. As a result, a two-meter deep hold appeared next to the fountain there. He carefully used the water from the fountain to create a coffin of ice with the Fairy Tail symbol proudly displayed on the top and placed Future-Lucy's body inside of it.
He lowered it down and moved the dirt by hand as he spoke to her.
"I won't sit here and pretend that we were the best of friends, Lucy-chan. We hardly knew one another, but from what I have seen in our brief interactions in this time, you were a positively radiant soul that brought life to the guild I hold so dear. It was because of that radiance that I wanted to spend more time with you, go on adventures, and get to know you," Percy said and he finished putting the dirt over the hole to cover it.
"I know your parents would be proud, just as I am to have called you a guildmate. I will protect the future. I don't know what the afterlife is called here, even after all this time… but I pray that you find safe passage and your afterlife is as full of love and adventure as your life on Earthland was. May you achieve Elysium," Percy whispered and formed an all ice tombstone at the head of the grave, willing his divine essence to ensure that neither the tombstone nor the coffin never melt, as he wished her body would remain unsullied for the remainder of time.
He had no idea if it would stay that way, but the amount of willpower he put into such a promise would hold until he wished otherwise. With nothing left to say, he rose from his kneeling position on the ground and headed back to the guild.
It was time for the sea to be unshackled.
LINEBREAK
Percy arrived just as the King finished his request for the guilds to fight for the safety of the country. He considered calling the King and his daughter out about how the entire situation was his fault, but after seeing how dedicated and united the guilds were, he chose not to.
Instead, he went to Makarov and pulled him aside from everyone.
"What is it Percy?" Makarov asked and Percy sighed heavily, still trembling with rage.
"This entire thing is their fault, Makarov. The Princess was fed false information about the portal and the future and now her desire to open it will cause the future they were informed of," Percy told him and Makarov's eyes widened and his breath hitched.
"We can't tell them," Percy said softly and sensed that Makarov was going to protest, so he continued so he couldn't. "First, look at how united every one is right now. We need to be if we're going to survive. Second, if we act against the kingdom, then we become enemy #1," Percy told him and Makarov adopted a look of concentration before nodding slowly.
Sensing that, Percy continued. "The Princess knows my thoughts on this and I made it clear that I speak for the guild. All we can do is fight for our lives and come out of this in one piece, Makky," Percy finished and Makarov nodded firmly.
"Very well, but promise me one thing," he said and Percy motioned for him to continue. "Don't hold back," Makarov told him and Percy adopted a stoic expression.
"They killed one of our own from the future, Makky. I'm letting everything lose when the time comes," Percy told him and walked away before Makarov could comment further.
As Percy walked off, he heard Kagura's guildmates telling her to rest and sensed where they were before heading over.
"Kagura-san," Percy greeted, sensing the tension in her guildmates as he approached, but none from her.
"Perseus-san," she said evenly, making Percy sigh.
"You're not going to listen to your guildmates and rest, are you?" he asked and he could sense her scowl heavily, but before she could rant, Percy held up a hand and gathered water from the air to discreetly surround her. "Fine. I'm not going to stop you. I'm not a hypocrite. Just be careful, Kagura-san," he told her while the water discreetly healed her wounds.
Once he was finished, he walked back to his guild to take care of his guildmates that had been in the last event and heal them at least a little without expending too much of his own energy.
"He's cute, Kagura-san, and he came all the way over here just to talk to you!" Millianna whispered semi-quietly, making the swordswoman faintly blush. She didn't let her eyes waver from his retreating form for a few moments.
LINEBREAK
The portal opened and for a few moments, nothing happened. As if everyone was thinking it, the tremors started throughout the city. Everyone knew that it was coming from the palace, but as the Eclipsed Moon flew in the sky proudly (or mockingly) overhead, the first dragon emerged.
It was massive - could barely fit through the Eclipse Portal itself - with gray scales that had a swirled pattern originating from the middle of each scale and spiraling out. It had beady red eyes and massive wings. Then it roared.
The roar itself undoubtedly burst eardrums from all of those in the immediate vicinity and sent many soldiers flying and statues crumbling from the shear gale force winds that it produced.
The next dragon to come out was just as large with blue scales spotted with gray and a massive fin on its head that stretched along its spine. The next dragon to emerge was made of entirely flames so that they could barely make out the skeletal shape of the monster.
After that was a burgundy scaled dragon with what looked like unmoving pincers on the top of it's head and underneath its lower jaw. After that, a charcoal-scaled dragon that nearly destroyed the portal's supports themselves.
The final two dragons were one of jagged rocks with a club-like tail, and a familiar jade-colored dragon from the Dragon Graveyard; Zirconis.
The Princess' only thought before the doors closed was, 'He was right. The Fairy's God-Slayer was right.'
LINEBREAK
Like Percy inferred, the opening of the portal allowed for the dragons to appear in their timeline, but that only served to raise his anger to higher levels. Yet, he still kept a cap on it until the portal was closed.
'It won't do me any good to use all my energy if there are only going to be more and more dragons coming out of the damn thing,' he mused before he felt the connection to the portal getting weaker and weaker.
'Good. Lucy and Yukino are closing it. Once that's done, I can cut loose.'
"The Eclipse Portal is closed! If I'm sensing correctly, only seven dragons made it through the portal!" Percy shouted to the gathered mages, shocking them back into the present and instilling whatever hope that he could.
"Dragon Slayers!" Percy yelled louder, gaining the attention of the five of them present. "Pick a dragon and do your fucking job! Everyone else, provide support and exterminate all enemies with extreme prejudice!"
There was a singular moment of silence before Percy heard Laxus laugh loudly. "You got it, Old Man! I ain't gonna die here to some overgrown lizard!" It was followed up with one of Gajeel's "Gihee!" cries.
A moment earlier
"Listen to me well, you ignorant peasants! I'm here to tell you that the world you know is coming to an end. The age of dragons is upon us!" the time traveler now identified as Future-Rogue shouted and the dragons flew closer to hear his words.
"To begin, slaughter all the wizards in this city," he said and the dragons flew off in different directions, except for the first swirly, gray-scaled dragon that picked up Future-Rogue.
LINEBREAK
All seven dragons landed in different parts of the city and the guilds separated to try and take down the threat. "Aim for the legs!" Makarov cried to his group that gathered to take down the fire dragon.
"Sabertooth, full-scale attack! Let's go!" Sting cried as his guild gathered to confront the burgundy-scaled dragon.
"Men! So this is a genuine dragon… But don't falter!" Ichiya yelled to his guild as they matched up against the stone dragon, with Gajeel on the way to them.
Some of the other gathered guilds that didn't make it to the Games attacked the spotted-scaled dragon, but to no effect.
The charcoal-scaled dragon batted off an attack from a Unison Raid attack from another group, while Kagura sliced some stone off of the Stone Dragon, but no effect either.
Just as everyone was trying their hardest to even damage the dragons, one man sat completely still in Lotus position from where the guilds were on standby. He was focusing; much more than he had in a very long time. He knew that he couldn't be in seven places at once, so he started to prioritize the kill list.
'Secure the portal first. Then, stone is basically earth that I need to shake hard enough. After that, whoever is the biggest threat to the others. I have to have faith that Natsu will be here in time to manage the flame dragon… Okay, let's get started,' he mused as his divine essence started to leak out of him.
It started subtly; an increased pressure in the atmosphere. Quickly, it became more chaotic and volatile as storm clouds rapidly formed and encased the entire city. 'I need more,' he thought as the night became darker and blotted out the moon.
The winds started to whip violently and a drizzle began that turned into a localized downpour. As one, all of the dragons looked to the sky, completely ignoring the puny mages trying to attack them.
After gathering their attention, the rain stopped. 'No use wasting all my energy on the entire area. Let it lay in waiting in the atmosphere so I can localize it when I fight each dragon," he thought.
His eyes snapped open just as a deafening boom of thunder and a flash of lightning that left tendrils of electricity racing across the clouds sounded and appeared simultaneously.
The ground cracked under his feet as he took off sprinting toward the portal for his first objective.
"Time to unleash the sea," he whispered to himself.
LINEBREAK
Jura noticed the clouds and the presence first, and just like the dragon, he paused to stare up at the sky. The other mages noticed and followed suit, feeling the energy in the air.
"W-What is this? Another dragon?" Lyon asked as he turned to Jura.
Jura smirked.
"No. This is Perseus. And he's pissed."
Same time
"What's going on?!" Sting yelled as he, his guildmates, and the dragon stared at the sky. Surprisingly, it was Orga that answered.
"T-This presence… it feels like a God," he whispered.
Same time
The gathered mages that were facing the fire dragon were all looking up as well as Mavis materialized next to Makarov.
"He's pissed," Mavis said simply as Makarov hummed in agreement.
"I fear I shouldn't have told him not to hold back."
Same time
Natsu climbed to the top of the palace and observed the freak weather that was occurring. Most saw it as freak weather, but Natsu knew better; he could smell it.
He let out a small chuckle and smirk.
"You got me feeling all fired up, Perce."
AN: Sorry that it took so long but here it is. Unsure how to feel about it to some extent. I feel like I skipped a lot, but I really didn't want to go back through Fairy Tail canon so. Lemme know!
Until next time!