SailorStar9: We now continue with Chapter 165 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny and my OCs.

Chapter 165: Alvarez Empire Arc: Neo Eclipse

"Christina DX, heading out." Eve declared.

"Come get us, Acnologia." Ren taunted.

"Captain, this way." Hibiki gestured.

"Everyone, we will explain on the way to our destination." Ichiya stated.

"That should give us plenty of time." Anna agreed.

"Who are you, exactly?" Erza gaped.

"Things are about to get bumpy, guys." Jenny warned, steering the Christina pass a cliff.

"Wendy..." Anna smiled gently at her sole female student. "This ship was actually built with Dragon Slayers in mind." she informed Erza and Jellal. "Calm yourself and take a deep breath." she soothed Wendy.

"Perfect." Ren grinned. "Acnologia's following us."

"Let's rile him up a bit." Eve suggested.

"Charging focused magic cannon Jupiter." Jenny charged up their main cannon. "High-speed rotation." she made a sharp turn. "Target locked. Energy charge complete. Fire!" she fired the cannon at Acnologia. "He ate it." she squealed when Acnologia swallowed the blast.

"Don't tell me he's immune to magic?" Hibiki wondered.

"Switch to physical ammunition." Eve swapped over to bullets.

"I doubt they'll do much but chew on these 120mm rounds." Ren growled.

"Assault Pegasus." both Even and Ren directed the assault cannons at Acnologia and fired the artillery rounds.

"Do you truly believe you can escape from me?" Acnologia droned.

"He sped up." using his 'Archive', Hibiki kept track of Acnologia.

"Let's show him what this ship can do." Ren grinned.

"Igniting magic boosters." Eve turned on the boosters and allowing the Christina to speed up.

"Maintaining orientation." Ichiya tried to regain the magical bomber's course.

"Do you remember me?" Anna asked.

"Anna-sensei?" Wendy gasped.

"I am an ancestor of a close friend of yours, known as Lucy." Anna explained.

"I don't care who you are, but is it true?" Jellal demanded. "You can defeat Acnologia?"

"We mustn't get ahead of yourselves." Anna chided. "All things have their due time."

"I'm still a little confused." Wendy admitted.

"it's alright." Anna drew Wendy into a hug. "I'm sorry about Grandeeney and the other dragons. But their efforts weren't in vain. Four hundred years ago, I was the one who taught Wendy, Natsu and the others about things like language and culture. I passed through the Eclipse alongside the Dragon Slayers and traveled to this era, to the year 777: all for the purpose of defeating Acnologia."

With Gray, Lucy and Happy...

"Lucy?" Happy blinked when the two males heard Lucy sobbing.

"What's wrong?" even Gray was panicking.

"It's just..." Lucy wept. "Natsu's life is literally this one book? How is that possible? Natsu is just an ordinary boy. So why?"

In the Fairy Tail Guildhall...

Zeref was thrown back by Natsu's flaming fist. "Give me more, E.N.D." the black mage demanded. "Break, destroy me. Destroy you, destroy me."

"Talk right, nii-chan." Natsu scolded. "I'm Natsu."

On the Christina...

"Four hundred years ago, we had absolutely no way to oppose Acnologia." Anna recounted. "So the dragons decided to put their hope in the future. They would enter the Dragon Slayers' bodies and travel to the future; to this era."

"Grandeeney told us about that." Wendy confirmed.

"She mentioned this era is filled with the most magic power, I believe." Erza recalled.

"It's why we were able to connect to this period of time." Anna nodded. "Zeref created the gateway and I opened it. He was constantly studying how time works. Even so, his wish of traveling to the past remained out of his reach. But I think he still had hope for the future back then. It was Layla Heartfilia who connected us to this era. I opened the entrance and she opened the exit."

"Lucy's mother?" Erza gasped.

"I originally came to explain the situation to the person at the exit and to bring you here and raise you." Anna admitted. "You were still children, after all. But an unforeseen accident flung all of you through the gate and in different directions. Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, Rouge; it took fives years to locate all of you. But when I saw the lives you'd found for yourselves in this era, I decided it wasn't time to contact you yet. All things have their due time, after all. While searching for everyone, I made an extraordinary discovery. I didn't know if it was caused by the Eclipse accident or something else, but something new had come into existence. I stayed behind the scenes all this time so I could investigate and prepare for it. This 'thing' possesses tremendous, dangerous power. To be more precise, it's more of a concept than power: a rift in time. It's our only hope of trapping Acnologia and returning him to nothingness. I noticed something unusual almost immediately: there is an abnormal type of magic that flows in this era. This abnormal magic has no basic elements nor is it made of light or darkness. It's simply 'nothingness'. It's a type of magic that shouldn't exist in this era, I suppose you could say. I went to investigate. And then, that's when I found it: the rift in time. By traveling 400 years into the future, I believe we caused the natural flow of time to warp slightly. Perhaps, it's the concept of time correcting itself, thus giving raise to a power beyond our imagination. Inside the time rift is literal nothingness. Nothing can live in it. Nothing can exist in it; not even Acnologia."

"So, you're trying to lure Acnologia there and trap him in it?" Jellal guessed. "This is all so hard to believe. Even after all these years, not a single person even found this time rift?"

"I kept it hidden." Anna answered. "The Eclipse opened a year ago during the Grand Magic Games. The hole reacted intensely to it. There's no question about it. It's normally invisible. But if you accidentally touch it, you're done for. You'll be stuck forever."

"The plan is extremely simple." Ichiya cut in. "Hibiki, if you would. We'll go around the time rift and then wait for Acnologia." he related after Hibiki used his 'Archive' as a visual aid. "When he comes straight for us, he'll touch the rift and go poof."

"Are you sure it'll be that easy?" Erza questioned.

"It's our only option." Anna insisted.

With Gray, Lucy and Happy...

"You okay, Lucy?" Gray asked after Lucy dried her tears.

"Thanks." Lucy nodded.

"Can you try opening the book?" Happy suggested. "I think I'm starting to understand what Shodai was saying earlier.

"Let's open it." Gray decided.

In the Fairy Tail Guildhall...

"Done already, E.N.D?" Zeref mocked. "You disappoint me." he fired a large energy beam at Natsu. "I was so sure that you, if anyone, could destroy me. It's okay." he muttered as the attack hit Natsu head-on. "I can go back to normal. With Mavis' power, I can go back to my original self. The Neo Eclipse. I won't go froward in time." his magic web trapped Natsu in its confines. "I'm going to start over. I'm going to reset time; to before I turned immortal. No one will be hurt. You can be human again. We can even kill Acnologia. There's no happier ending than this."

"Tell me, then." Natsu snapped. "What'll happen to us? To everyone?"

"How would I know?" Zeref shrugged. "This isn't my world anymore."

"We're already trying as hard as we can to live in this world." Natsu barked.

"There are two keys to the Neo Eclipse." Zeref continued. "One is Mavis. She's on her way here as we speak. And the other key is the rift in time."

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.