SailorStar9: So, after getting Chapter 86 out, this is Chapter 87 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 87: The Eclipse Project

"I am Arcadios, Captain of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knights." Arcadios introduced himself. "The Kingdom of Fiore's Military Corps stationed in Crocus."

"I am Yukino Agria," Yukino added. "Temporary Sergeant of the same."

"What's a military big cheese doing here?" Gray wondered.

"Yukino…" Lucy muttered. "But you…"

"Were a member of Sabertooth." Pantherlily added.

"You said they kicked you out, right?" Happy reminded.

"I'll explain." Arcadios stated. "The power of a Celestial Spirit Wizard was necessary for the secrecy of the operations. And so, I'm relying on the assistance of Sergeant Yukino."

"A Celestial Spirit Wizard…" Lucy blinked.

"What do you mean you needed the power of a Celestial Spirit Wizard?" Wendy asked.

"Wait a minute, I'm lost here." Natsu remarked. "Skip the annoying details; just tell me want you want."

"Natsu Dragoneel, yes?" Arcadios noted. "Your previous event was a marvellous magic battle."

"I don't give a damn about that." Natsu glared. "I wanna know about this 'Celestial Spirit Wizard is necessary' business. If you got something to say, spit it out."

"Yeesh…" Gray muttered.

"Natsu, I think you already know this, but that guy's a VIP." Happy pointed out.

"If you think so, then I don't know about calling him 'that guy'…" Pantherlily reminded.

"Follow me." Arcadios instructed.

"Lucy-sama, I also have a favour to ask." Yukino voiced. "If this operation is a success, Zeref and Acnologia will be defeated."

"What the hell is this?" Natsu exclaimed, Arcadios leading them to the palace.

"It's huge." Gray gaped.

"It's the Flower Light Palace, isn't it, Mercurius?" Ulyo inquired.

"His Majesty's palace." Arcadios confirmed.

"That's really something." Even Pantherlily was awed.

"But first, I want to apologize to Lucy-dono for her mistaken attempted abduction several days ago." Arcadios stated.

"That's right." Carla nodded. "Wendy was mistaken for Lucy and kidnapped."

"You were behind that?" Lucy wondered.

"Of course, I didn't intend to cause you any harm." Arcadios assured, leading the group through a passageway. "But I imprudently took somewhat forceful measures. At the time, I was convinced we needed a Celestial Spirit Wizard immediately and made an error in judgement. I apologize. The Grand Magic Games were camouflaging to absorb a great quantity of wizards' magic power."

"So, every year you stole magic from wizards?" Gray realized.

"Camouflage?" Happy echoed.

"Say what you wish." Arcadios remarked. "I did it all for a certain plan."

"What is this?" Wendy muttered, looking at the large gate before them.

"Eclipse, the project that will change the world." Arcadios replied. "A great deal of magic power was required to construct it."

"Portal?" Lucy echoed.

"When the sun and moon are in conjunction, the 12 Keys will be used to open the door." Arcadios informed. "When it's open, the plan is to travel back 400 years in time and murder Zeref before he can become an immortal. That is the Eclipse Project."

"Travel in time?" Lucy was stunned, the others were rendered speechless.

"Lucy-sama, I've heard time flows differently between the Celestial Spirit World and our own." Yukino added.

"Now that you mention it, but…" Lucy protested.

"The idea is to use the Celestial Spirit World's dimensional boundary line and the power of the power of a Celestial Spirit Wizard to open this door." Yukino explained.

"Originally, the plan called for the possible use of pseudo-Celestial Spirit mage in place of the real thing." Arcadios revealed. "But having a true Celestial Spirit Wizard and the 12 Keys would guarantee the success of the project. I could say that aspect is indispensable. The sun and moon will overlap three days, hence, on July 7th. I would like your assistance, Lucy-dono."

"July the 7th…" Ulyo mused. "A familiar date."

"The day our dragons disappeared." Wendy noted.

"Is this just a coincidence?" Gajeel wondered.

"The eclipse, when the sun and the moon are in conjunction…" Gray stated. "A solar eclipse."

"That's enough!" Darton ordered, arriving with the Royal Army. "Don't move! Surrender peacefully, Captain Arcadios." He advised.

"Minister of Defense." Arcadios gaped. "What is the meaning of this?"

"That is my line." Darton corrected. "Leaking details of a top secret plan and state military secrets to outsiders is abominable."

"They are not outsiders." Arcadios defended. "You know this. These people have a critical role to play in the success of the operation."

"That's not a simple matter for you to arbitrarily decide on." Darton objected.

"You're just opposed to the plan, aren't you?" Arcadios glared. "I want you to stop this nonsense immediately."

"Of course I'm opposed to it!" Darton barked. "Changing history! Can you even slightly imagine the inherent dangers, boy?"

"So there's a faction that's against the plan." Lucy realized.

"Even so…" Gray stated.

"Changing history…" Wendy trailed.

"I can't even start to count the number of ways that plan will fail with flying colours." Ulyo muttered sarcastically. "If you change the past, you'll change the present too."

That's what would happen." Pantherlily blinked.

"Not only that, we also have to consider the possibility of creating another alternate timeline." Ulyo added. "Or the likelihood of Earthland collapsing into a black hole and taking the rest of the Solar System with it."

"But isn't that just a theory?" Pantherlily looked at the Earthland version of the Edolas Princess.

"Do you want to test that theory?" Ulyo gave the black Exceed a look.

"Arrest Captain Arcadios on suspicion on treason!" Darton ordered. "Arrest Yukino Agria and Lucy Heartfilla too! Throw everyone else out!"

"Me too?" Lucy echoed.

"Jackasses, you're not getting Lucy involved in this." Natsu growled.

"Don't!" Arcadios warned. "You mustn't use magic here!"

"This…!" Natsu gasped, the Eclipse portal activating and started draining him of his magic.

"Perhaps he didn't tell you." Darton remarked, two of his soldiers having Lucy captive. "The Grand Magic Games is a system to steal a small amount of magic power from wizards and send it to Eclipse. If magic is activated this close to Eclipse, all the person's magic power will be siphoned. Don't cause a fuss." He advised. "Wizards who can't use magic are no threat to our kingdom. I will not let Eclipse to be activated." He declared, having separated Lucy and Yukino from the rest.

"He has magic deficiency syndrome." Ulyo stated, having ran a diagnosis on the unconscious Natsu. "He won't be moving in a while."

"Bastard…" Gajeel growled.

"I want you to understand that this isn't my own will." Darton told the kicked out wizards. "It's all behalf of the state. But I can give you one piece of advice. His Majesty is fond of Fairy Tail. If you win the Grand Magic Games, ill grant you an audience with the king. Knowing how kind he is, he may consider the matter of your friend's treatment. May you have grand magic battles."

"What?" Laxus echoed.

"Lucy was captured by the royal army?" even Erza was shocked after the group returned.

"So they involved her in a plan we know almost nothing about." Makarov noted.

"In other words, what?" Laxus mused. "Unless we win the Grand Magic Games, we wont' get Lucy back?"

"Although I don't know if we can trust that, either." Gray voiced.

"Who gives a crap about that?" Natsu snapped, now tied to a post. "I'm gonna rescue Lucy right now!"

"Master." Erza turned to Makarov.

"We can't act recklessly against the kingdom." Makarov mused. "But on the other hand, they can't afford to treat their citizens too shabbily either. Maybe we can think of her as hostage who'll be kept until this Eclipse Project is cancelled."

"That's a pain in the ass." Laxus muttered.

"But that doesn't make sense." Gajeel pointed out. "Why would they let the rest of us go when we heard the same state secrets?"

"It's got nothing to do with making sense." Natsu retorted.

"There's a chance we were released as witnesses if Arcadios is eventually convicted." Ulyo stated.

"Why?" Carla was confused. "When there's a danger of top secret information spreading…"

"Maybe they decided it can't be hidden any longer." Erza surmised.

"If they captured the whole lot of us, we wouldn't be able to leak info, right?" Gray stated.

"We're all participants of the Grand Magic Games, right?" Ulyo reminded. "If we suddenly disappear tomorrow, people would take notice. I seriously don't think the kingdom would risk making an enemy out of a wizard guild."

"To us, it's ridiculous that Lucy's been taken captive." Erza voiced. "But it isn't a breach of the royal army's sense of justice."

"Enough jawing!" Natsu broke free. "I'm gonna rescue her!"

"Stifle it!" Makarov scolded, slamming a fist on the Dragon Slayer's head. "This ain't a festival where the whole family gets captured. We all feel the same way. This time, just charging ahead without thinking isn't going to work. Still, we're not cowards who're gonna take it lying down either. We're Fairy Tail!"

"At last, it's here!" Chapati announced, as the final day of the Grand Magic Games began the next day. "The final day of the wizards' passionate festival, the Grand Magic Games! Like it or not, only one guild will be victorious today! I'm your emcee, Chapati and next to me is a former Council member, Yajima-san, who will provide the commentary."

"Good to be here." The aged cook nodded.

"Our special guest is none other than the mascot of the Grand Magic Games, Mato." Chapati continued. "You don't have to judge today, Mato?"

"Not today." The pumpkin replied. "Everyone, do your best. Now then, the teams are about to take the field."

"Currently in 6th place, can they turn this around?" Chapati declared. "Formerly a hunting dog, now a puppy! Quatro Puppy! Next up on the field is Blue Pegasus, led but the current master of parfum, Ichiya Wanderlei Kotobuki! Here they are Lamia Scale is on the field! Right now, they're in 3rd place, but will Ice Wizard Lyon Vastia, who rivals or surpasses Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster, lead his team to victory? And sharing 3rd place with Lamia Scale is Mermaid Heel! And currently in second place; will they remain dethroned? Will the two Dragon Slayers, the Twin Dragons, Sting Eucliffe and Rouge Cheney challenge Natsu and Gajeel again? And if so, what will the results of that rematch be? Sabertooth takes the field! It seems their mood has changed somehow." He noted, sensing the shift in atmosphere. "And currently in first place! Will this be the day the so-called strongest guild seven years ago comes back in full-force? Fairy Tail is taking the field! Huh?" he blinked when the new team entered the stadium. "What? They've changed their members! This is an unexpected development! In place of Natsu Dragoneel, we've got…"

"Ulyo!" Lyon was shocked.

"Natsu was instrumental in the Tag Team Battle, so why isn't he here?" Chapati asked the question on everyone's mind.

"You put some thought onto it, Rokudaime." Mavis noted on the sidelines.

"In the end, that was all I could do, Shodaime." Makarov admitted. "If we win the Grand Magic Games, they may release Lucy fair and square. But we can't put all our faith in that, so there had to be an alternate plan. With everyone absorbed in the tournament, this is the perfect chance. We'll cheer the team on, as usual. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, a separate team is heading to rescue Lucy."

"A war fought on both fronts, right?" Mavis mused.

Outside the stadium, led by Natsu, the three Exceeds, with Wendy and Mirajane in tow raced to save Lucy.

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